•1 
ROSEBREASTED COCKATOO. (GALAH.) 
measurements, it must have been over a quarter of a mile long and one hundred 
yards wide, inside which space were crowded fluttering, flashing forms, 
alternating in their rose and silver splashes of splendour as they beat back- 
wards and forwards.” 
When Gould dealt with this rather well-coloured Cockatoo he observed : 
“ This beautiful Cockatoo is abundantly dispersed over a great part of the 
interior of Australia ; both Oxley and Sturt speak of it as inhabiting the 
country to the north-west of the Blue Mountains ; in fact, few travellers 
have visited the interior without having had then attention attracted by 
its appearance ; and I myself saw it in great numbers on the plains bordering 
the river Namoi, particularly under the Nundewar range of. Sir Thomas 
Mitchell ; I possess specimens also from the north coast, procured by the 
officers of the ‘ Beagle.’ A difference, however, which may hereafter prove 
to be specific, exists between the birds from New South Wales and those of 
the north coast. Those from the latter locality are largest in size, and have 
the bare skin round the eye more extended ; the rosy colour of the breast and 
the grey colouring of the back are darker than in the specimens I killed on 
the Namoi. The late Mr. Elsey informed me that £ The country round the 
Gulf seems to be the favourite resort of this species ; it there feeds on the 
broad open plains in flocks of from fifty to two hundred. Nothing can exceed 
the beauty of their appearance as they wheel about over these plains in the 
light of an early sun.’ ” 
The indication of subspecies was never acted upon, and North, in the 
Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1, Vol. III., commented upon Gould’s note regard- 
ing variation : “ I find just the reverse in the specimens in the Australian 
Museum Collection, as all the deepest rosj^-red birds were obtained by the 
late Mr. K. H. Bennett, in South-western New South Wales. There is, 
however, as Gould points out, a variation in the depths of colour of the up^der 
parts, as there is also in size, even when procured in the same locality. One 
of the smallest and richest coloured birds in the Australian Museum is an 
adult female, obtained by Mr. W. Adams, who accompanied the late Mr. K. 
H. Bennett, at Moolah, Western New South Wales. The wing measurement 
of adult males varies from 9*8 to 10-75 inches. Specimens from Derby, 
North-western Australia, have that faded and washed out appearance 
common to many species procured in torrid districts.” 
When I prepared my “ Reference List to the Birds of Australia,” 
published in the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., Jan., 1912, I examined a good 
series of birds and it was seen that variation was existent, both geographically 
and individually. Thus, while North’s remarks applied that variation was 
seen among birds from the same locality, yet when series were laid out in 
VOL. VI. 
233 
