THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
account for ; it is evidently subject to no law, as it frequently happens 
that six or eight may be seen together without one of them exhibiting this 
mark, while on the contrary a like number may be encountered with two or 
three of them thus distinguished. To this circumstance, and to the variation 
in the colouring of the tail-feathers of the two sexes, may be attributed the 
voluminous list of synonyms pertaining to this species. There is no doubt that 
Mr. Caley was right in the opinion expressed in his notes that this is the 
Carat of the natives.” 
I have given Caley’s notes under the preceding species. 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me : “A few small flocks of this species 
remain in the Iron-bark scrubs near here (Cobbora, New South Wales) 
through the year : their food appears to consist mostly of various kinds of 
oak seeds, but they are very partial to those of the needlewood bushes, and 
it appears that they not only eat the seed of this bush but also part of the 
wood ; although this bush is only sparingly dispersed through the scrubs 
near here, I have noticed that nearly every bush of this species is bitten to 
pieces : what food they get from this bush I have not been able to discover. 
In hot weather I notice they come out of the dry scrubs to the river to drink 
just about sunset. Their call note is a most mournful cry, which they seldom 
utter except when flying.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has given me the following account of the Kangaroo 
Island form : “ In March, 1905, I spent one day and night at Western River, 
Kangaroo Island, the object of my visit being to obtain a specimen of a red- 
tailed black Cockatoo that settlers in the Eastern part of the island told me 
was to be found in the Western end. I heard from some lads that there was 
a pair nesting and I suggested that they should come with me to prevent 
my shooting the birds that they were watching, as they wished to get the 
young one alive when old enough. They did not trouble to come, so I went 
up the gully and found one of these birds in some lofty Sugar Gums. On 
shooting the bird, it gave out a hoarse cry which brought another to the same 
clump of trees, uttering the same sort of plaintive cry that is made by 
C. funereus, but if memory serves me right a rather weaker note. I shot the 
second bird, which turned out to be the female, thus securing a pair in 
splendid plumage. I found out later that I had shot the pair that were 
nesting, and that were being watched by the lads, so I persuaded the boys 
to go up the tree and they secured the egg for me. The egg was a single one 
and the lads told me that they never lay more than one egg, which is almost 
spherical, and of course pure white. At the tune of my obtaining these 
specimens, no collector had ever obtained the Kangaroo Island bird : in fact, 
no collection in South Australia had South Australian specimens of C. viridis, 
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