DICEUM. 215 



steel-blue; lores, cheeks, and sides of the neck black; ear-coverts like the croivn oftlie head, but not so 

 glossy; chin, throat, and fore neck scarlet; breast dull white ivith a broad black streak down the centre, 

 some of the feathers glossed ivith steel-blue, as are also a few on the sides of the chest; sides of breast 

 and flanks ashy, the former having a dusky wash: under tail-coverts scarlet; bill black; legs and feet 

 black; iris black. Total length in tlte flesh Jf'-j inches, wing 2'35, tail 1'3, bill 0'3, tarsus O'o. 



Adult female — 6'eMe/-a^ colour above dark ashy-brown, slightly glossed with steel bhte on the 

 lower back and rump: wings similar but havijig more of a bluish-green gloss, and becoming brighter 

 on the apical portion of the innermost secondaries; upper tail-coverts glossy steel-blue with dull black 

 bases; tail feathers black with a faint steel-blue gloss; head, cheeks, and sides of the neck like the upper 

 back; all the under surface creamy-ivhite, the fore neck, upper breast and flanks ashy ; vent and under 

 tail-coverts pale scarlet. 



Distribution — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Central Australia, Western Australia. 

 AT^HE range of the Swallow Dicseum,or Mistletoe-bird as it is more frequently called, extends 

 -L to all parts of the Australian continent. It is common in the rich brushes and open 

 forest lands near the coast, also on the highest timbered peaks of our mountain ranges, and in 

 the trees bordering the creeks and rivers of Central Australia. Especially it is to be found where 

 the Loranthus and other parasitical plants flourish. In fact wherever the Swallow Dicapum is 

 found, if the Loranthus is not there it will most assuredly follow. Much has been written upon 

 the distribution of the Loranthus by means of this little bird feeding upon its berries. On the 

 26th December, 1893, at Canterbury, New South Wales, my attention was attracted by the 

 actions of a male Dicaum in a low Casuarina. While perched on a horizontal branch it was 

 making a tremulous motion of its wings. Some few minutes after it voided several berries of 

 Loranthus, held together in a "string" only by their own viscid and glutinous covering. 

 As the bird flew away, the upper portion of this pendant mass came in contact and remained 

 attached to the branch on which the bird had been perched. 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett writing from the Mossgiel District, New South Wales, in 1886, 

 remarks: — "Diiipuui lurundinaccuni is tolerably numerous in the timbered or scrubby portions of 

 this locality. It is here entirely frugivorous, its food consisting exclusively of the berries of the 

 Loranthus and other parasitic plants which are here extremely varied. The food is passed through 

 the bird, and is in exactly the same state as when swallowed. I have seen numerous instances 

 where the seed of the berry has germinated and grown on the branches of various trees. At 

 Yandembah Station, some twenty years ago, I planted at each end of the verandah, some 

 Casuarina raised from seed I had brought from a distant part of the colony. These trees grew 

 wonderfully well and in time afforded a dense shade. Some short distance off was a clump of 

 indigenous trees, thickly grown over with a parasitical plant which was a favourite resort of 

 these birds. During the hotter part of the day the birds would seek the dense shade of the 

 Casuarina near the house, and the trees were soon sprinkled over with the viscid berries, numbers 

 of which germinated and the trees are now a dense mass of this parasite. Previous to the birds 

 resorting to them there was no such plant on them." 



Writing from Broken Hill, South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray sends 

 me the following notes: — "Only occasionally have I seen Dicaum hirundinaceum in the fruiting 

 mistletoe, which is here usually parasitic on various species of Acacia, and its fruit is not 

 encapsule. This fruit often shrivels, becomes very sticky, and sprouts on the parent plant, and 

 if growing high up, it may when it drops off stick to another branch and grow. When in this 

 sprouting sticky condition it could easily cling to the plumage of any bird and be carried from 

 tree to tree. In Queensland, when a boy, I was much interested in the question as to whether 

 this plant depended solely upon the Dicaum for its dispersal, and could easily make observations 

 as the trees were low, mistletoe abundant, and Dicaum very common. I came to the conclusion 



