LEADBEATER’S COCKATOO. 103 
tail feathers are rich salmon colour, The crest of the male is 
scarlet tipped with white; the crest of the female is scarlet, blending 
into yellow in the centre. The bill is horn colour, the feet dark 
aay The length of the bird is 15 inches, of the wing, 104, of the 
il, 64. 
Hahbits.—This species is much less noisy than the common white 
cockatoo ; it is also quieter in its disposition. The river courses 
bordered by huge eucalypti are its favourite haunts, and the pine 
forests near Gawler Town are resorted to for the purpose of breeding. 
It thrives well in a cage, and is far the most ornamental of the genus 
to which it belongs. 
Where found.—This elegant bird is diffused throughout the 
southern portion of the continent in New South Wales, Victoria, 
South Australia, and Western Australia; it is also a denizen of the 
interior. Major Mitchell, in the account of his exploration of the 
Darling, incidentally remarks that one day ‘‘a flock of cockatoos of 
the Darling, with scarlet and yellow top-knots, flew over our heads,” 
Professor Tate, of South Australia, remarks that at Bunda Plateau, 
near the head of the Great Australian Bight, this species ‘would 
seem to be almost a straggler, as only one flock was seen by a party, 
and singularly at about the same place that Eyre had met with the 
bird.” 
Nidification.—Mr. K, H. Bennett found this handsome bird 
breeding plentifully in the interior of New South Wales, between 
the Lachlan and the Darling rivers. Like all other members of this 
genus, it breeds in the hollow limbs of trees, usually in lofty 
eucalypti. The eggs are three in number for a sitting, oval in 
shape, and white. A set taken on Sept. 5th, 1884, ranged as to the 
length of each egg about 1°38 inches, breadth 1:1 inches. 
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Wompar—Phascolomys. 

Introduction. —The wombat was originally described and figured 
in the history of the colony for the month of Jan , 1799, by Collins. 
It was upon this description that Geoffroy founded the genus 
Vombatus in 1803. The account of its dentition given in Collins’ work 
is however very obscure and erroneous; hence when Geoffroy 
subsequently had an opportunity of examining the animal in 
question, specimens having been brought alive to England by Capt. 
Baudin, not finding it to agree with the published description, he 
regarded the living specimen as constituting the type of a new 
genus, which he characterised under the name Phascolomys. 
Description.—The length of its body is about 3 feet; it stands 
low on the legs. It has 15 ribs, other marsupials have from 12 to 
13. ‘The wombat may be regarded as one of the most curious of the 
Australasian animals, ranking, as it does, 1n respect to its structure, 
svith the koala and platypus. It is covered with fur, which is 
tolerably long and very coarse ; its general hue is grey-brown next 
the skin, the hairs on the upper parts of the body are of a dusky- 
