THE AZURE C^REBA. 155 



a passenger below. The song of the Dicfeum. although very sweet and flowing, is very soft 

 and faint, and seems to be an inward warbling rather than the brilliant melody which is flung 

 so energetically from the vocal organs of many singing-birds. The little bird, however, is pos- 

 sessed of considerable endurance, for its strain, although weak, is long continued. The Dicaeum 

 is mostly found among the thick foliage of the Casuarinse, and Mr. Gould relates that he fre- 

 quently saw it flitting about the branches of a remarkably beautiful parasitic plant termed 

 scientifically the Loranthus, which it seems to visit either to eat the soft viscid berries, or for 

 the purpose of preying upon the little insects that come to feed on the flowers. Mr. Gould 

 prefers the latter supposition. 



The flight of the Dicaeum is very quick and darting, and it makes more use of its wings 

 and less of its feet than any of the insect-hunting birds. The nest is remarkably pretty, being 

 woven as it were out of white cotton cloth, and suspended from a branch as if the twigs had 

 been pushed through its substance. The peculiar purse-like shape of the nest attracts atten- 

 tion. The material of which it is woven is the soft cottony down which is found in the seed- 

 vessels of many plants. The eggs are four or five in number, and their color is a dull grayish- 

 white profusely covered with minute speckles of brown. 



The two sexes differ considerably in the coloring of their plumage, the male bird being 

 much more brilliant than his mate. The head, back, and upper parts of the adult male are 

 deep black with a beautiful steely-blue gloss, the sides are brownish-gray, and the throat, 

 breast, and under tail-coverts are a bright glaring scarlet. The abdomen is snowy-white, with 

 the exception of a tolerably large black patch on its centre. The female is more sombre in her 

 apparel, the head and back being of a dull sooty-black, and the steel-blue reflection only 

 appearing on the upper surface of the wings and tail. The throat and centre of the abdomen 

 are buff, the sides are pale grayish-brown, and the under tail-coverts scarlet, of a less brilliant 

 hue than in the male. In its dimensions the Dicseum is hardly so large as our common 

 wren. 



ANOTHER species belonging to the same genus, but an inhabitant of a different part of the 

 world, is equally remarkable for its minute form and the bold richness of its colors. This is 

 the RED-BACKED DICAEUM (Dicceum cruentdtum) of Asia. 



This beautiful wee bird is plentiful in India, extending over a wide range of country, and 

 being found in the vast tracts which reach from Calcutta to Assam on the east, and as far as 

 Malacca on the north. Like the Australian Diceeum, it resides on the summits of the loftiest 

 trees, and on account of its quite small size is not very often seen, and even if seen is so hard 

 to shoot that it is but seldom killed, except by those who make it their business to collect 

 specimens. The male bird is remarkable for a broad line of the brightest scarlet which extends 

 from the top of the head along the back, and reaches nearly to the extremity of the tail. The 

 remainder of the upper surface is black, marked with green upon the wing-coverts, and the 

 lower parts are of a light buff. 



NEARLY allied to the preceding species is the FIRE-BREASTED MYZANTHE (MyzantTie 

 ignipectus), a bird which is remarkable as being the smallest bird of India. So very small is 

 this beautiful little bird, that an adult specimen is hardly two and a half inches in total length, 

 and weighs only three and a half drachms. In its habits it is very like the Dicseum, frequent- 

 ing the tops of trees, and keeping itself well out of sight. The general color of this bird is a 

 dark glossy green above and buff below. Upon the chest there is a bold patch of bright crim- 

 son, and immediately below is a curious little black mark something like a frond of seaweed 

 in shape. It is an inhabitant of Nepal. 



THE two following species of birds are of small size, but are remarkable for the extreme 

 beauty of the plumage, which glows with the most brilliant hues, but is not endowed with 

 the peculiar changing tint of the Epimachi and humming-birds. 



The first of these creatures, the AZURE C^EREBA, is a most glowing little bird, its feathers 

 being deeply and gorgeously dyed with azure, verditer, and velvet-black, arranged in the 



