68 HOWE, Breeding of the Gang-gbng Cockatoo [ JuJy 1 
The drive to the mountains in the evening was delightful. 
We arrived at Ferntree Gully about 8.15 p.m.; and, after attend¬ 
ing to the inner man, drove on to Tremont. The night was 
rather warm, so we camped out on the road and talked of birds 
all through the night. When a few keen ornithologists from 
widely different parts of the continent get together there are 
many interesting tales to be told. Whilst one was talking, the 
others made splendid listeners. The time Hew all too quickly, 
and I for one will never forget that or the succeeding day. We 
were up at 4 a.m., grilled the chops, boiled the billy, had break¬ 
fast, packed up, and were ready for the day before 0 o’clock. 
First, we went to a tree where Red-browed Tree-creepers had 
been seen building in a hollow about eighty feet up. Whilst the 
rope ladder was being fixed, I went off uphill, accompanied bv 
Messrs. Simson and McGilp to show them the tree in which I 
had located the Gang-gangs. Mr. Simson had seen them nesting 
at Casterton, where, I believe, he saw two nests containing one 
young bird and two young birds respectively. Casterton is prob¬ 
ably the western limit of this Cockatoo. It is there found in 
company with the Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus fttnereus) 
and the Glossy Cockatoo (C. lathami). When I pointed out the 
hollow to Mr. Simson, he at once remarked, “1 don’t like the 
look of it,” and added, “If they intend breeding in a hollow, it 
is invariably a hollow, dead spout.” Me said also that the birds 
had a habit of not only biting round the entrance, but also biting 
off small or even fairly large branches of the nesting tree. These 
are found littering the ground beneath the tree, just as the 
leaves of the top branches of a sapling are strewn beneath the 
nest of the Crested Shrike-tit (Falcunculus fcontains). 
I was disappointed at Mr. Simson’s remarks, and also because 
the birds were not seen. Just then, I happened to glance at a 
big hole in a horizontal limb of a large gum, and was delighted 
to see the head of a male bird appear at the entrance. I ex¬ 
citedly pointed him out to my companions, and the bird allowed 
us a few minutes 1o admire him. The time was about 6.30; the 
sun just showing over the range, and its rays on the bird showed 
him in all his crimson glory. He silently left the hole and Hew 
down towards the creek without uttering a sound, until he had 
traversed some eighty yards. 
We were at that moment called down to the other party. Ar¬ 
riving at the nesting tree of the Red-brows, we were shown an 
egg of the Tree-creeper, fresh and broken on the ground. George 
Falconer decided to go on with the climb, so 1 hurried back! up¬ 
hill. 1 had barely taken up a good position for watching the 
hollow, when I heard the Gang-gangs returning from the creek, 
and saw the pair approaching through the timber. On arriving 
at a tree about eighty yards away they alighted. After a minute, 
the female, uttering her creaking cry, Hew nearer into another 
tree and then went to the hollow. Turning about and facing my 
position downhill, she sat at the entrance, and raising her crest. 
