•to 



CACATUIU^E. 



Ml. W. H. Hargraves, Trustee of the Australian Museum, has IsiiuUy ^'i\en me the tollowinj; 

 note:— " I?i the early part of the year iS78 I sent a youn,L,' Galah (Cauilua ivsduipilla) to my 

 brother Edward John, who resided at Noraville, Bun.^aree Norah. I suhseiiuently, about a 

 year after the above date, paid a visit to Noraville. My brother then informed me that the 

 Galah had escaped from his ca<^e about a week before my arrival. .\ few days after this, we 

 were out on the run on horseback, and when returnin.Lj to the homestead our attention was 

 drawn to a Hawk pursuin,f; a bird hii^'h up in the sky. My brother e.xclaimed "That is my 

 dalah, I know liis cry." He then whistled. The bird answered, and descending quickly 

 lighted on his shoulder, where he remained until we reached home, and as soon as he saw his 

 cage he made direct for it. He was very hungry, and appeared well satisfied to return to 

 his old quarters." 



The late .Mr. K. H. l^ennett w'rote : — '■ 1 found Cdrntiia i-o^diapilLi \ery plentiful near the 

 Lachlan Ri\er, in Southern New South \\ales, and about the sandhills for some thirty miles 

 out on the northern side. They were in large llocks of some hundreds in number, feeding upon 

 the seeds of a small plant, probably an annual, as all traces of the plant itself had disappeared. 

 Just before sunset they congregate in the tops of the fine trees (Cilliliis. sp.) toroost, and their 

 brii^ht coloured breasts gave one the idea that the tree was crowned with large rose-red blossoms. 

 This species breeds during October and November, depositing four or five eggs in a hollow 

 or trunk of some Kucalypt." 



I'rom flroken Hill, in South-western New South Wales, Ur. \Y. Macgillivray writes me : — 

 " Cacatua voicicapilla is to be seen throughout the district, but is not found breeding along the 

 creeks in such numbers as C. saiii;iiiiu-a. They assemble in large flocks after the breeding season 

 and gradually begin to pair off in July. They are earlier to nest than C. S(//;i,';//;/ii!, their eggs 

 being often taken at the beginning of August. 'J'hey choose for this purpose the hollows in the 

 creek Gums, at a height which averages twenty to thirty feet, the eggs being placed at a depth 

 of from one to three feet. The eggs are four or five in number, and repose on a bed of 

 green Gum leaves in every instance. 'I'his is the only Cockatoo, or indeed member of the Order, 

 that I know of which lines its nesting hollow, and the same material was used in every nest 

 which I have examined both here and when I was a boy in (Queensland. When watering these 

 birds love to drink clinging to a post or fence or dead tree in the water ; sometimes a whole 

 crowd of them will alight on a post, and then a great screaming and flapping of wings ensues as 

 each tries to get a position near the water. I have seen a partly submerged post and wire fence 

 covered with Galahs in this way, the edge of the water in the foreground being at the same time 

 white with C. siviL^iiiiun. 



" Around our camp on Cawndilla Creek, near Menindie, during the first week in September, 

 1908, we found Ctuatua I'oseuapilln in numbers, nearly all paired off, and each pair intent upon 

 finding a suitable nesting-hollow, and when found in fitting in a bed of green Gum leaves as a 

 resting place for their eggs ; this bed varies in thickness from si.x inches to a foot, or even more. 

 When hollows were getting scarce one pair was found to have essayed the impossible task of 

 filling a hollow tiee from the butt upwards, and had put in over two feet of leaves before giving 

 it up. We frei]uently watched the birds nipping off the leaves, usually small branchlets bearing 

 four or five leaves, and carrying them in their bills to the hollow, both birds helping in the task. 

 Many were the disputes and altercations over hollows within sight of our tent door, both between 

 different pairs of Galahs and between Galahs and other Cockatoos. A pair of Sulphur Crests 

 had taken possession of one hollow, and were treated with the greatest respect ; not so a pair of 

 Blood-stained Cockatoos, whose chosen home was frequently occupied by Galahs during their 

 absence, but usurpers were always ejected on the rightful owners return from their feeding 

 grounds. On the creeks, owing to droughty conditions, Galahs were not so plentiful, nor were 

 the clutches so full as they are when feed is more plentiful, many of them containing only two 



