C'ACA'IDA. 87 



"Odd situations are sometimes chosen for nestini>, one hollow, about twenty feet from the 

 ground, found on the 13th October. iqo6. on Campbell Creek, Broken Hill, had its entrance 

 just below a Wediie-tailed Lia'-;le's nest. The accompanying' photograph, which I took that 

 day, shows Mr. Win. McLennan with liis hand on the entrance to it. The hollow contained 

 three fully fledged young CiUiitiin siii!i;iiiin-ii ; the W'edged-tailed Eagle's nest was unoccupied. 

 .'\nother was under a Whistling ICagle's nest, both being occupied. .Another again was at the 

 base of a branch which held a Goshawk's {A slur iippiiixiiihiin) nest and eggs. I ha\e very often 

 seen more than one nest in the same tree. We camped under a tree on Campbell Creek' last 

 year which contained four young Cockatoos in one hollow, three eggs of the same species in 

 another, and four chipped eggs of the Boobook ( )wl in another. Then in another tree one 

 hollow contained three very young Coclcatoos, another hollow fwti fresh eggs of Barnard's 

 Parrakeet ; higher up in the same limb three eggs of the Cockatoo-Parrakeet, and in other parts 

 of the same tree were two nests with young of the Tree Swallow. 



".\fter the nesting season they assemble in llocks, which must numberat times some thousands. 

 Thev tiien roost in the Gums at ni^ht. and lly out to their feeding grounds at dawn. I noted 

 them on the 13th of October, 190(1, tlying out at 4.30 a.m., before it was properly light; others 

 followed at 4.45 a.m., and right on until 5.:;o a.m. They feed on the plains on \arious seeds, a 

 fa\ourite f jod being the seed of the little wild melon, locally known as the " paddy melon," 

 and which is reputed to cause blindness and paralysis in horses, .\fter feeding for an hour or 

 two the birds fly in to water, and then amuse themseK'es until it is time to go out to feed by 

 snipping lea\es and branchlets off the Gums, which litter the ground beneath, and if the trees, 

 as they often do, grow beside a waterhole, they seriously pollute the water, the birds thus 

 incurring the enmity of the owner of the water, liarly in 1910 this happened to such an e.xtent 

 on a station near here, that a man was employed to trap or otherwise get rid of the birds. The 

 young are easily reared, and make engaging pets. They are very docile, and learn to repeat 

 many words and plirases very plainly. 



" Se\eral hundreds of young birds are taken every year by the bird-catchers, who sell them 

 locally or send them to Adelaide, or even Melbourne. They are favourite pets here, and rightly 

 so too, as they are more docile and tractable than any of the other Cockatoos, and talk quite as 

 well. They have a decided crest, more marked than that of Liciiictis uasicn, but have not nearly 

 so much red colouring about the head. In L. nasiin this tinting of the bases of the feathers 

 extends often to the upper tail-co\'erts, whereas in the bird under notice it is much paler, more 

 of an orange, and confined to the lores and slightly to the feathers across the base of the culmen. 

 The naked space round the eyes is never circular, Init is extended downward where it widens 

 out. This skin is in all young birds, and most old ones, of a leaden or slaty colour. I have, 

 however, seen a few old birds in which it was (juite white. Whether this was an age change, 

 or due to an excessive secretion of powder down, 1 am not certain." 



From Melbourne, \'ictoria, Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me: — ''The liome of Cnaitna 

 saii,L;iiinLa is in the northern half of the continent, and its range extends across from Broken Hill, 

 in South-western New South Wales, on the east to near Geraldton on the west. These birds 

 assemble in immense flocks, and when preparing to roost three or four trees are often covered 

 with them. When feeding or resting on the ground several acres are sometimes rendered white 

 by the flock. Owing to their fondness for swampy country, where they feed on bulbs, &c., it is 

 almost impossible to find an adult bird with clean plumage. Although I shot a great many for 

 culinary purposes, the only clean birds were the young ones, which depended on their parents 

 for food. At the Fitzroy Kiver, North-western Australia, the natives took several young Galahs 

 from nests of these birds. I ascertained that the Galahs had prepared the nest, lined it with 

 leaves, and commenced laying when Cacatua ianguinca drove them away, laid their eggs, and 

 hatched and reared the mixed brood ; I heard of the same thing happening at Broken Hill. 



