Breeding of the Mealy Rosella. 219 
covered with soft down, seemed to be fully grown, but he 
has only within the last few days indulged in a flight from 
branch to 1)ranch. He generally sits on the top of the 
dead trunk (in the centre of the flight) which is nearly 6ft. 
high, and calls repeatedly in a soft whistle for his parents 
who feed him from time to time with disgorged food. He 
is about three-quarters the size of the full-grown birds, and 
has similar but rather duller phimage, possessing, in addition 
some striated reddish -orange markings on the head. He 
amuses himself by biting bark from the dead trees and tried 
his beak upon some cuttlefish to-day. His mother is now 
in her barrel, being apparently about to lay once more. Her 
husband is a very charming bird and is always ready to par- 
take of the various sorts of green food which I offer him.— 
(Hazeleigh, June 19th, 1914). 
Some Experiences of Cockatoos. 
By the Marquis of Tavistock. 
{Continued from page 191). 
Meanwhile the old pair were staying well, often flying 
two or three miles or more from 'home, but always returning 
regularly to feed. All was satisfactory until the middle of 
February, when to my great surprise and regret, the hen was 
one day brought to me dead, the post mortem showing that 
a soft-shelled egg had brought about her untimely end. The 
cock seemed much upset by his loss, and in order to console 
him and prevent him from straying in search of his departed 
wife, I got him another mate. The latter was, however, not 
in good enough plumage to turn out altogethei', and he was 
only able to see her on tine days— an arrangenKMit which an- 
noyed him considerably and proved in the end the unforeseen 
cause of his death. One day in March lie failed to make his 
customary appearance on the feeding tray in the early morn- 
ing, and many weeks later the discovery of his shrivelled 
corpse in a disused chimney-stack showed that the poor bird's 
persistent efforts to join his new mate, in the interior of the 
house, had brought on him a miserable end by slow starva- 
tion. 
