Vol 

 191 



^^'^ 1 Chandler, Notes on the Mistletoe-Bird. 133 



while the excreta of wood-boring insects was here and there 

 firmly bound on with cobweb. 



At Frankston (Vic.) on 5th November, 191 1, I secured some 

 interesting notes on the nidification of this species. Hearing a 

 male bird utter its nesting call, I was quickly on the spot. A 

 small bird flashed past me, apparently coming from the ground, 

 and by its notes and flight I easily recognized it as a Mistletoe- 

 Bird. I examined the place whence it had appeared to fly, and 

 found a tangle of wool in a fallen branch. Concluding that the 

 bird was gathering the wool for a nest, I waited. Soon the 

 female was back at the wool, while the male perched in a tree 

 about 20 yards off, uttering loud notes. The moment his mate 

 left he joined her, and their sharp notes quickly died away. 

 The timber was too dense for me to follow their flight by sight, 

 but I realized that the nest must be some distance from where I 

 stood. There was nothing for it but to trace the birds by their 

 notes. With this object in view, I walked about 50 yards in the 

 direction in which they had flown, and as the birds passed and 

 re-passed — often unseen — I followed them until eventually I 

 found the nest, which was being built in a small gum sapling 

 about 6 feet from the ground, in an open position. From the 

 fallen limb where the wool was gathered to the nesting-site 

 the distance was fully 200 yards. The female was building with 

 feverish energy. While she was at the nest the male, perched on 

 a dead tree a few yards away, uttered the Sericornis-like notes. 

 As soon as she left he was after her, a flash of crimson and blue. 

 The male at no time assisted in collecting material or building 

 the nest. On the 19th of the same month I visited the locality 

 with a camera, and, after a long wait, succeeded in photographing 

 the female bird at the nest. Unfortunately the plate was 

 damaged in the course of the day. The nest contained three 

 eggs, about half incubated. 



Mistletoe-Birds are fairly numerous at Melton (Vic), and one 

 day in November, 191 1, Mr. F. E. Wilson found two nests there^ 

 built in mallee saplings. All through the Dandenong Ranges 

 Mistletoe-Birds are plentiful, and at Beaconsfield, the southern 

 extremity of the Dandenongs, Mr. Wilson located several nests 

 last season. One example was built in a spray of flowering 

 " blanket-wood " tree — the most beautiful nest I have seen of the 

 species. I obtained a photograph of two of the chicks from a 

 nest. Both sexes were observed feeding their offspring on 

 mistletoe berries, and at no time while we watched did they 

 bring other food. I noted that the outer case of the seed had 

 been removed. A note-book containing a description of the 

 young birds has been mislaid. From memory I can only say 

 that in colouration the fledglings resembled the adult female 

 bird. Like the Pardalotes, the Dicaeum remains in southern 

 Victoria throughout the year. 



