CACATUA. ^.* 



the same. The birds from the liarrier Range, in this neighbourhood, are identical in every 

 respect with the binls from the dulf District, Northern (,)ueenshind." 



The wing-measurement of adult males varies from 10-4 to ifj^ inches. 



< )mitting the extreme south-western portion, the range of the Blood-stained Cockatoo extends 

 over the greater part of the remainder of the Australian continent. Mr. 1-2. J. Cairn and the late 

 Mr. T. H. Bowyer-l Sower obtained specimens near r")erby. North-western Australia in 1.SS6, and 

 Mr. Tijm Carter obtained it near I'oint Cloates ; there are specimens in the Australian Museum 

 Collecti(jn, received from the Perth Museum, procured at liroome in June, i8l;6. Mr. G. .\. 

 Keartland, while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, met with it in i(Sy6 near 

 (jeraldtnn. Western .\ustralia; the late Mr. Edward Spalding procured specimens near Port 

 Darwui, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, and I )r. 1'^. Hartert records it under the 

 name of C. ,L;viiiihfis also from the Northern Territory.* Tliere is a specimen in the .Australian 

 Museum Collection procured by the late Mr. Kendal Broadbent at the (julf of Carpentaria 

 in 1874, and Dr. W. Macgillivray has noted it as occurrmg in vast tloci-'s in the Cloncurry 

 District, about two hundretl nnles turther south, and a specimen was received Irom Mr. Fred. 

 L. lierneys, of W'yangarie, Northern Oueensland. In Western New South \\ ales and the 

 adjoining portions of South .Australia, it is remarkably common. Sturt obtained specimens at 

 Depot Glen, midway between Milparinka and 'I'ibooburra, in North-western New South Wales, 

 and not in Central or South .Australia, as has been so frequently and erroneously recorded. 

 The late Mr. K. H. Bennett found it inhabiting South-western New South Wales, and 

 from the same part of the State Dr. W. Macgillivray has forwarded some \ery interesting notes 

 relative to the habits and breeding of this species. 



Two living examples of the Blood-stained Cockatoo I saw in 1893 were in the old George- 

 street Markets, Sydney. The first one was taken by its owner, M. Eugene litable, from a 

 nesting-place in a hollow brancli of a tree, and he captured the other, when just able to llutter 

 along the ground, at a place about six miles south of Burk'etown, twenty miles south of the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, m Northern Oueensland. M. Etable informed me that this species bred in 

 the district only during the wet season, and is influenced by the latter being early or late, the usual 

 breeding time commencuig in February and continuing until the beginning of May. During 

 the dry season it assembles in large flocks, and remains in the neighbourhood of tanks and 

 water holes. M. Etable has observed these birds, but not in such great numbers, as far east 

 and south in the intervening country over which he has tra\elled between Croydon, liughenden 

 and Barcaldine. Since then I have observed at intervals, sometimes of several years, cages 

 of these birds in various dealers' shops in Sydney, some of them received by way of I'ort 

 Darwin, others from Adelaide and Melbourne, procured in the south-western portion of New 

 South Wales. 



The following notes were made by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett at Moolah, Western New 

 South Wales : — " The only occasion on which I have met with Ciicatna saiigninca was during an 

 exploring trip in the Barrier Ranges, in November i''^74. In this locality I met with them 

 fre(iuently, in the vicinity of the numerous sandy creeks, bordered with large Gum trees that 

 e.xtend for some distance from these rugged ranges, and in which I found them breeding. When 

 I first observed these birds they were on the wing, and a long way off", but that evening when 

 camped on one of the water-holes a dock came to drink, and having a gun I soon had an example 

 in my hand. Pre\'iously I had never seen this species." 



Dr. W. Macgillivray sent me the following note relati\e to this species in the Cloncurry 

 District, Northern (Queensland : — " Cacatna sivi<^iiiih\i is distinctly gregarious, the flocks flying 

 on to the downs just after sunrise, where they feed on the ground for two or more hours, 



* Nov. Zool , Vol. .\I1., p. .ill (1905). 



