BIRDS OF OUR BUSH 



mistletoe well covered with ripe berries, and held it towards 

 them. The birds soon accepted the invitation, and with- 

 out any hesitation, made use of this convenience instead of 

 bringing berries from a little distance. We already were 

 aware, by the presence of the empty cup-shaped portions 

 of the seed cases under the mistletoe boughs, that the seed 

 was extracted without the cases first being removed from 

 the branch. We now found that the soft case was taken 

 cross-wise in the bird's bill and split by pressure. The 

 free portion of the case was then dropped, leaving the white 

 beriy protruding from the cup-shaped half still attached 

 to the branch. By pressure of the remaining piece of 

 the case, the berry was forced out sufficiently to be easily 

 taken in the beak. We could not persuade the birds to 

 take any berries that were not properly ripened. If the 

 branch in our hand held no berries to suit, the food was 

 brought from a tree in the ordinary way. 



One of the young birds was a weakling, not nearly so 

 robust as the other two. During the time that berries 

 were to be obtained so near at hand, we were surprised to 

 find that this unfortunate youngster was overlooked time 

 after time, and his share of the spoils divided amongst the 

 other two. We changed his position several times, in the 

 hope that he would thereby come into his own. But he did 

 not. When the female parent, however, returned from 

 one foraging trip, she brought insects in her bill instead of 

 berries. With these she fed the weakling, and we at once 

 saw the reason for the apparent favouritism previously. 

 These parents understood their work well, nothwithstand- 

 ing our foolish idea to the contrary. In their younger and 

 weaker days all three young birds had been fed on insects, 

 and only received a change of diet to mistletoe berries when 

 they became larger and stronger. The weakling had not yet 

 been promoted to the more advanced diet. 



Some two months later we again visited the spot and 

 took the remains of the nest for closer examination. We 

 also examined some of the Lorayithus seeds which had 

 passed through the young birds and had lodged on the 

 branch of a sapling. All had firmly adhered to the branch, 

 and had sent out small shoots. Our observations, as we 

 have said, lead us to believe that the Mistletoe Bird is a 

 very important factor in the spread of the mistletoe para- 

 site. We have watched many other birds from time to 



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