22 MELIAMt — Current Observations 



ing but kept guard in a small dead tree nearby and fiercely at- 

 tacked and chased away any other birds coming near the nest. 

 Among others a new Holland Honey-eater and a Lunulated 

 Honey-eater, birds both much larger than itself. At one time 

 the male sat on a branch within (5 feet of me, I then saw a seed 

 passed and transferred to the branch exactly as on the first 

 occasion. Later on examining the small dead tree, on which 

 the bird was perched most of the time, I found hundreds of 

 seeds sticking to the branches, sometimes three or four in a 

 row, they evidently having been passed together. I examined 

 the first seed on several later dates, and although it germin 

 ated it did not take root, probably because it was upon old 

 bark and the seed requires young and succulent bark to get a 

 footing. 



Lorunthiis seed will germinate anywhere. I have twice 

 found i1 germinating upon bare granite in the Gawler Ranges 

 and once upon the dead branch of a myall, on each of these oc- 

 casions the seeds were mixed with droppings. The green 

 shoot which springs from the seed is the radicle, this grows 

 upwards, develops an expanded sucker like end, and then turns 

 downwards and applies itself to the substance upon which it is 

 deposited if this should be tender young bark. I presume that 

 rootlets penetrate the bark of the host if it be succulent 

 enough, but I have not myself observed this. From these ob- 

 servations I conclude that the seed is not regurgitated but is 

 passed in the usual manner, and that the sticky covering is in- 

 digestable and serves not only to retain the seed upon the 

 branch but also makes the seed adhere to the feathers of the 

 birds vent and thus gives it a good chance of being deposited 

 in a favourable situation and not dropped haphazard as would 

 otherwise be the case. 



Current Observations. 

 Fantailed Cuckoo Breeding near Adelaide. 



By J. W. Mbllor. 



The fantailed cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelHformis) of Gould and 

 (Cuculus rubricalus) of Mathews is a well-known visitor to the 

 Adelaide plains and the surrounding hills during the winter 

 months, but generally departs as the warmer weather of. spring 



