166 



AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 



F. 141. DICAEIDAE (11), FLOWER-PECKERS, 113 sp.— 



57(57)A., 56(56)0. 

 1 336*Australian Flower-Pecker, Mistletoe-Bird (-Swallow), 

 74 Dicaeum hirundinaceum, A. Stat. c. trectops 3.5 



Black glossed steel-blue; throat, breast, under base tail 

 scarlet; abdomen white, black patch down centre; 

 flanks dusky; f.,* throat, centre-abdomen buff; under 

 base tail pale scarlet. Honey, pollen, fruits, insects. 

 Pretty, feeble song. 



panions heard nothing. So it is with the high-pitched call of a 

 Bat. Have you heard one? Few have. 



The Mistletoe-Swallow should be called the Australian Flower- 

 Pecker, for it is our one representative of a large genus, best 

 developed in the Indian Region. 



Placed at present in Family 141 with the little Mistletoe-Bird 

 are the Diamond-Birds of Australia, the plumage of our common 

 kind of which is "so variegated and beautiful as to render 

 description impossible." 



The Diamond-Birds are restricted to Australia. Though they 

 are found mainly in high tree-tops, whence they prettily and con- 

 tinuously call "wit-e-chu" and "wit-loo," some usually nest in a 

 bank of earth. The bank of a dam, the side of a creek, and the 

 earth suspended on the roots of a fallen tree are favorite places. 

 Some people find the continuous, musical note annoying, and have 

 named the Diamond-Bird the Headache-Bird. Others find it 



