THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Mr. Sandland, writing from South Australia, states that they were 
“ Common } ” while Mr. A. G. Campbell noted that : “ Throughout the pine 
tracts of the western Mallee, Victoria, Cacatua leadbeateri is a common species. 
It is very fond of locust eggs which it digs up in clusters from the hard ground 
with its curved bill.” 
It will be seen that this species must be very local as other observers do 
not record this bird with any frequency save in the Mallee Country of Victoria 
and South Australia. 
Captain S. A. White has written me : “ These birds were once very 
numerous between Mogan and Overland Corner. I have seen them in thousands 
there, twenty years ago, but the last time I paid the country a visit I did not 
see one. We met with this bird in the interior in 1913, but in only one small 
flock, and the natives gave me to understand that they were not at all common.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby notes : “I have never seen this bird near the city of 
Adelaide or in the Adelaide Hills. Some years ago they used to nest in some 
stunted Gums near Curramulka, Yorke’s Peninsula.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin’s notes read : “ The only districts in which I have 
seen this species are the Mallee Country, Victoria, and the Bourke District 
in New South Wales. At the time of my visit to the latter place they were 
breeding, but most of the nests contained young, and in every case one of the 
parent birds was in the nesting hollow with the young, although in two cases 
the young were just about ready to fly, in fact they could fly, because one 
got away from me, the others I brought home. This was in November 1910. 
One lived only a few weeks, the other two were a beautiful pair of birds, so 
exactly alike that I could never tell one from the other. I kept them in a 
large aviary, with several Cacatua roseicapillas, and a Phaps chalcoptera. 
They were continuously eating holes through the wire netting and getting out, 
but usually came back to me at feeding time. However, one day one of the 
C. leadbeateri’ s got out and went straight away and I never saw it again ; 
its mate was so enraged at this that within an hour it killed the Bronze- 
winged Pigeon, and simply tore it to pieces, in much the same manner as a 
Hawk would. This bird is still alive, but has never learned to say a word, 
although it appears to try hard enough, but it just simply cannot, and of the 
many pet ones I have seen, I only, knew of two that could utter a word, and in 
both these cases the extent of their talking was extremely limited. This species 
seldom is found in large flocks, but mostly from a pah to a dozen.” 
Mr. W. B. Alexander has sent me the following note : c I have only met 
with these birds at the head of the Australian Bight at a place called Madura, 
120 miles west of Eucla. Here a considerable party had their headquarters 
near a small waterhole at the foot of the Hampden Range. They spent their 
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