8 04 The Sparrow-like Birds 



twelve feathers; the tarsus is also rather short. In the more brilliantly colored 

 members of the group the sexes are very different ; but in others, especially the 

 duller plumaged, they are alike, while the young resemble the adult female. 



The Flower-peckers are active little birds, usually going in small parties and 

 frequenting woods and gardens, where they mostly keep to the higher branches, 

 along which they flit or from which they often hang like a Titmouse. Their 

 food consists of insects, small spiders, buds, fruits, and small berries, an Aus- 

 tralian species (Dicaum hirundinaceum), for example, feeding so extensively 

 on the berries of the mistletoe that it is known locally as the Mistletoe-bird. 

 Their call notes are often rather high pitched, but many of them possess a long, 

 low, twittering warble. Their nesting habits are quite diverse, some of them 

 constructing exquisitely wrought little pear-shaped nests suspended from a 

 branch, while others deposit their eggs in holes in banks, hollow logs, or natural 

 cavities in trees. They all appear to lay white eggs. 



Typical Flower-peckers. Among the host of species in the typical genus 

 (DiccBum) a few may be selected to show not only the brilliancy of the plumage, 

 but the range in colors. Thus in the Scarlet-backed Flower-pecker (D. cruenta- 

 tum), which ranges from India, southern China, and Siam, through the Malay 

 Peninsula to Sumatra, the male has the entire upper plumage a rich crimson, 

 the sides of the head, neck, wings, and tail black and the lower parts pale buff; 

 the female has only the rump and upper tail-coverts crimson, the remaining 

 upper parts being olive -green, becoming golden yellow on the nape, while the 

 lower parts are ashy buff. The delicate egg-shaped nest of this species is made 

 of vegetable down and grass and attached to the tip of a branch, usually at 

 a considerable height from the ground. Occurring in nearly the same regions 

 and equally brilliant is the Orange -bellied Flower-pecker (D. trigonostigma), 

 the male of which is dull blue above, with the back and rump flaming orange- 

 yellow, the throat and breast ashy gray, and the under parts flaming orange; 

 the female is olive-green above, with the rump and upper tail-coverts yellow, 

 the chin, throat, and breast ashy green, and the remaining under parts bright 

 yellow. Its habits are like those already described. 



The Diamond -birds (Pardalotus), of which there are about a dozen species, 

 are confined to Australia and are chiefly remarkable for their habits of nidifica- 

 tion, which, as already hinted, differ so widely from those of certain of the other 

 Flower-peckers. One of the most widely distributed and best-known species 

 is the Spotted Diamond-bird (P. punclatus) of Australia generally. It is an 

 engaging little species, found in gardens and enclosures as well as in the open 

 forest, searching incessantly for insects among the foliage, not only of the highest 

 trees but of the lower shrubs as well, and is, according to Gould, exceedingly 

 quick in its actions, clinging and moving about in every variety of position both 

 above and beneath the leaves. The nest is usually placed in an underground 

 chamber which is excavated by the birds themselves, though sometimes in a hol- 

 low log or accidental opening. The tunnel, which is slightly ascending, runs 

 in from one to three feet and is enlarged at the end to accommodate the nest 

 itself, which is a neat and beautifully built structure composed of soft strips and 



