188 
Some Experiences of Coclcatoos. 
In Januarj^ the old cock was found dead in a pond, 
having- fallen a victim to a mystei'inus form of enteritis, of 
micro1)ic oi-igin, whicli has carried ofl' two or three of my 
Roseate Cockatoo when at lilierty. The hen, though obviously 
distressed at her loss, was not deterred from laying the 
following Api'il and sitting for many weeks on her useless 
egg\5, which, on account of the inaccessibility of the nest, 
we were unable to remove. 
In early summer I released the best of the two young 
cocks, and for some days he would not leave the cage of the 
hen, with whom he had spent the winter. Then, unwisely 
imagining- that her youth and the ragged condition of her 
wings would prevent her from straying far, I let her out as 
well, with the result that the pair flew off together, and, while 
the cock was recaptured some miles away, the hen was never 
heard of again. The returned vagrant I again released, 
while still hungry, in the presence of the old hen, who happened 
to be feeding on one of the trays at the time. She was 
extremely pleased to see him and greeted hirn most cordially, 
though, he, on his part, received her advances in a somewhat 
ill-tempered fashion. Howevei-, he stayed with her, wliich 
was the main thing, and after a few weeks' freedom .had 
immensely improved in appearance and showed signs of being 
in breeding condition, bullying the Slender-biUs, and even 
the Banksians, although the latter were about three times 
his size. The hen, however, did not nest again until the 
following May, when I felt confident that my hopes of young 
Gang -gangs would at length be realized. For a few weeks 
evciytliing went w(41 ; no Owl, Squirrel, or .Tackdaw dares to 
molest a sitting Cockatoo, whatever evil intentions it may 
harbour against a more defenceless Parrakeet. Suddenly, 
however, just about the time that the eggs were due to hatch, 
the old birds deserted, the cause becoming only too apparent, 
when a few days later I discovered tliat tlie hen was very 
ill and suffering from a wasting disease which lia,d leduced 
her to a mere skeleton. I suspected tuberculosis and shut 
her up in a very warm room, giving her all tlie rich anrl 
stimulating foods she would eat. For a time she .seemed 
to improve, then slowly grew worse and after about six 
weeks she died. Examination proved her (|uite fi-ec from 
infectious disease and showed that she had been suffering from 
