CHAPTER IX. 



Mistletoe Bird, Wood Swallow. 



THE species which are recorded in this chapter bear 

 no relation one to the other, except the affinity 

 which arises from the fact that they share the 

 honour of being our most thoroughly observed sub- 

 jects. Any observation which is calculated to be in any 

 way novel or scientific is more likely to be found in this 

 portion of the book than elsewhere. Our pictorial records 

 of these species, too, are regarded as exceptional, although, 

 of necessity, but a few of the photographs can be placed 

 before the reader in a volume such as this. 



In October, 1914, we had our first opportunity of obser- 

 ving the habits of the beautiful Mistletoe Bird, a species 

 not uncommon, but to the casual observer almost unknown. 

 The extreme smallness of the bird and the height and speed 

 of its flight is one of the reasons that it is so little known. 

 The slenderness of our knowledge regarding it left us at a 

 disadvantage in our search for a nest. 



The appearance of the bird we knew by study of illus- 

 trations, and by fleeting distant glimpses of the subject 

 itself. We knew just sufficiently of the height and the 

 speed of its flight to realise that the task of tracing a nest 

 by the movements of its owners was well-nigh hopeless. 



One day, while photographing on our favourite hill at 

 the Gully, we noticed a male of the species attacking a 

 Silver-eye with such persistence as to indicate that the 

 former had a nest somewhere in the vicinity. Such signs 

 to the observer are unmistakable. Several times the 

 Silver-eye returned to a native cherry tree, which was well 



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