l66 Lawrence and Littlejohns, Nesting of Mistletoe-Bird. [,^fTan 



Nesting Habits of the Mistletoe-Bird (Dicaeum 



hirundinaceum). 



By S. a. Lawrence, R.A.O.U., and R. T. Littlejohns, R.A.O.U., 

 Melbourne (Vic.) 



During October and November, 1914, we had an opportunity, 

 for the first time, of observing the nesting habits of the Mistletoe- 

 Bird {DiccBum hinindinaceum). Previously we had seen the bird 

 only on a few occasions, and never at close quarters. The nest 

 we had under notice, unfortunately, could not be visited during 

 the period of incubation, but we spent a good deal of time photo- 

 graphing and taking notes when the young birds appeared. 



On 4th October, while photographing at the nest of a Yellow- 

 breasted Whistler {Pachycephala giitturalis) on a timbered hillside 

 at Ferntree Gully, Victoria, we noticed a male Mistletoe-Bird 

 attacking a White-eye [Zosterops dorsalis) with such persistence 

 as to indicate that the former was nesting. Several times the 

 White-eye returned to a native cherry tree {Exocarpus cupressi- 

 formis), and each time was angrily driven away. Finally, both 

 birds were lost to sight among the trees. As a photograph of the 

 Dicmim had long been desired, we kept a very sharp look-out. 

 Soon the female Mistletoe-Bird arrived with nesting material, 

 and flew straight to a sapling a few yards from the disputed cherry 

 tree. On following her to the sapling, much to our delight we 

 discovered the purse-like nest suspended from a horizontal branch 

 about 10 feet from the ground. We watched from a short 

 distance while the female made two or three more visits. The 

 nest was very elastic, and bulged in an alarming manner as the 

 bird turned about inside, arranging the fresh material. A closer 

 inspection later showed that it was almost completed, and was 

 much larger than descriptions had led us to believe was usual 

 with nests of the kind. Certainly, it was much larger than the 

 specimen now in the Melbourne Museum. The nest, which faced 

 the north, was built of sheep's wool and the woolly substance 

 obtained from the under side of the leaves of the blanket-wood 

 tree {Bedfordia salicina). Although we remained at the spot 

 for a considerable time longer, the bird did not again return, and 

 we were rather concerned as to whether we had caused her to 

 desert. The male appeared to take no part in the nest-building, 

 but confined his attention to clearing his domain of feathered 

 intruders. 



It was not till 22nd October that we were again able to visit 

 the hill. We were relieved to find that the nest had survived the 

 severe gales which had been experienced in the interim, and that 

 three young birds had been hatched some few days before. In 

 the short period available for observation on this occasion, the 

 female made several visits with food at intervals of, roughly, two 

 minutes. She invariably flew into the sapling a few feet above 

 it before clinging to the front of the nest to feed the young. As 

 we were only a short distance away, we were able to see that the 



