ROSEBREASTED COCKATOO. (GALAH.) 
grounds. On the creeks, owing to droughty conditions, Galahs were not so 
plentiful, nor were the clutches so full as they are when feed is more plentiful, 
many of them containing only two eggs when it is usual to find three or four. 
The young when hatched are covered with pink down, and do not open their 
eyes for several days after. Both Galahs and Bloodstained Cockatoos have 
become very fond of the seeds of the domestic pie melon, which has run wild 
all over this district. They have no doubt been led to this by their fondness 
for the seeds of the small wild melon and the scarcity of any other food.” Mr. 
W. M. Thomas wrote from the Lands Office, Orange, New South Wales: “ A 
singular action of the Galah that I have frequently noted on the Gunningbar 
Creek and the Macquarie and Castlereagh Rivers, is that it removes the bark 
from a patch on the trunk of the tree in a hollow of which it has its nest. This 
removal was always commenced on the south-east side of the tree ; in some 
instances it extended right round the barrel, but always the larger area of 
removal was on the south-east side. In one case I noted that the bark had 
been removed for three or four years in succession, the removal patch being 
increased every year. I failed to discover any reason for this action.” 
Mr. G. A. Keartland noted : “ Cacatua roseicapilla is the most widely 
dispersed species of the family Cacaluidce. It is found from within ten miles 
of Melbourne to the extreme north of the Continent and from the east to the 
west coast. Unlike most of the Psittacidce they line their nests with freshly 
gathered Eucalyptus leaves, and I have often found their selected tree by 
following the bird with a leafy twig in its bill. They are ground feeders, 
and live principally on seeds, bulbs, etc., which they find amongst the grass. 
During the winter they congregate in large flocks, but in the spring are found 
in pairs. During my travels in Western and North-western Australia with 
the Calvert Exploring Expedition, I often shot Galahs for the cook, and we 
made many good meals off them, as they can be eaten more often with a relish 
than any other game I tried.” 
Whitlock’s notes from the Pilbarra Goldfield, Western Australia, read 
{Emu, Vol. VIII., p. 191, 1909) : “ Cacatua roseicapilla was found in scattered 
pairs throughout the district. I found four nests, one of which contained 
newly-hatched young. None of the nests was difficult of access. All were in 
hollow gum-trees, and the bottom of the cavity was in each case plentifully 
lined with fresh gum-leaves. A clutch appears to be five, and about a 
fortnight elapses before the last egg is laid.” 
From East Murchison the same writer recorded {Emu, Vol. IX., p. 192, 
1910): These noisy birds were breeding, too, in the eucalypts, but not in 
anything like the numbers of C. gymnopis . I also saw them in flocks near 
Bore Well.” 
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