THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
many for culinary purposes, the only clean ones were the young ones, which 
depended on their parents for food. At the Fitzroy River, North-west Australia, 
the natives took several young Galahs from nests of these birds. I ascertained 
that the Galahs had prepared the nest, lined it with leaves and commenced 
laying when Cacatua sanguinea drove them away, laid their eggs, and hatched 
and reared the mixed brood. I heard of the same thing happening at Broken 
Hill.” 
The confusion in connection with this species began very early and has 
continued to the present time. In the Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 138, 
Gould named a Cacatua sanguinea from Northern Australia. In his descrip- 
tion no mention is made of the size, shape or colour of the bare eye space. 
In the “ Birds of Australia ” he figured two birds with a note that he had only 
seen a few specimens. His fuller account I here quote : “ The circumstance 
of this species never having been characterized until I described it in the 
‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ above quoted, may doubtless be 
attributed to its being an inhabitant of the north-west coasts, portions of the 
country where few collections have been formed. With the exception of a 
specimen brought home by Captain Chambers, R.N., and another in the 
collection of Mr. Bankier, my own specimens are all that I have seen ; the 
whole of these were collected at Port Essington ; but, as it was observed by 
Captain Sturt at the Depot, in Central Australia, we may infer that its range 
extends over all the intermediate country ; and that no bird is more common 
on the Victoria (Northern Territory) is certain, for Mr. Elsey informed me that 
he saw it there in flocks of millions. The Blood-stained Cockatoo inhabits 
swamps and wet grassy meadows, and is often to be seen in company with its 
near ally, the Cacatua galerita , but I am informed it is even more shy and 
difficult of approach than that bird. It is doubtless attracted to the swampy 
districts by the various species of Orchidaceous plants that grow in such 
localities, upon the roots of which, at some seasons, it mainly subsists. But 
little difference occurs either in the size or the colouring of the sexes, and I 
have young birds, which, although a third less in size, closely assimilate in 
every respect to the adult ; so much so that an examination of the bill, which 
during immaturity is soft and yielding to the touch, is necessary to distinguish 
them. . . . Other species of White Cockatoos nearly allied to this bird occur 
in the islands immediately to the northward of Australia, some of which 
extend their range to the Philippines.” 
In 1871 Sclater, who used to determine birds at the Zoological Gardens, 
London, with no known history, described a new species Cacatua gymno'pis. 
He recognised in another bird Gould’s C. sanguinea and saw differences. 
He gave figures of the heads of the species he had alive under observation 
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