THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
were in large flocks of some hundreds in number, feeding upon the seeds of a 
small plant, probably an annual, as all traces of the plant itself had dis- 
appeared. Just before sunset they congregate in the tops of the Pine trees 
( Callistris ) to roost, and their bright-coloured breasts gave one the idea that 
the tree was crowned with large rose-red blossoms. Tins species breeds 
during October and November, depositing four or five eggs in a hollow or 
trunk of some eucalypt,” Dr. W. Macgillivray has written from Broken Hill, 
South-western New South Wales : “ Cacatua roseicapilla is to be seen through- 
out the district, but is not found breeding along the creeks in such numbers 
as C. sanguinea. They assemble in large flocks after the breeding season 
and gradually begin to pair off in July. They are earlier to nest than G. 
sanguined , their eggs being often taken at the beginning of August. They 
choose for this purpose the hollows in the creek Gums, at a height which 
averages twenty to thirty feet, the eggs being placed at a depth of from one to 
three feet. The eggs are four or five in number, and repose on a bed of green 
Gum leaves in every instance. This is the only Cockatoo, or indeed member 
of the Order, that I know of which lines its nesting hollow, and the same 
material was used in every nest which I have examined both here, and when I 
was a boy in Queensland. When watering these birds love to drink clinging 
to a post or fence or dead tree in the water ; sometimes a whole crowd of 
them will alight on a post, and then a great screaming and flapping of wings 
ensues as each tries to get a position near the water. I have seen a partly sub- 
merged post and wire fence covered with Galahs in this way, the edge of the 
water in the foreground being at the same time white with C. sanguined. 
Around our camp on Cawndilla Creek, near Menindie, during the first week in 
September, 1908, we found Cacatua roseicapilla in numbers, nearly all paired off, 
and each pair intent upon finding a suitable nesting hollow, and when found in 
fitting in a bed of green Gum leaves as a resting place for their eggs ; this 
bed varies in thickness from six inches to a foot or even more. When hollows 
were getting scarce one pah* was found to have essayed the impossible task of 
filling a hollow tree from the butt upwards and had put in over two feet 
of leaves before giving it up. We frequently watched the birds nipping off 
the leaves, usually small branchlets bearing four or five leaves, and carrying 
them in their bills to the hollow, both birds helping in the task. Many were 
the disputes and altercations over hollows within sight of our tent door, both 
between different pairs of G alahs and between Galahs and other Cockatoos. A 
pair of Sulphur Crests had taken possession of one hollow, and were treated 
with the greatest respect ; not so a pair of Bloodstained Cockatoos, whose 
chosen home was frequently occupied by Galahs during their absence, but 
usurpers were always rejected on the rightful owners’ return from their feeding 
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