366 THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Bill longer and Creeper-like, the culmen exceeding in length 



the hind toe and claw. Dicaeum, 



Bill shorter and more Pinch-like, the culmen not exceeding 



the tarsus in length. Pardalotus. 



Genus Dicmum. 

 Widely distributed over India, Burmah, South China, Malaj- 

 Peninsula and Archipelago, Papua and Islands to the East, with 

 one species in Australia. Flower-peckers. 



The Mistletoe-bird. 



Dicmum hirundinaceum. 



Australia generally, but wanting in Tasmania. 



Male: Head and upper surfaces glossy purplish-blue; throat and 

 fore-neck and under tail-eoverts scarlet; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 white; remainder of under-surface yellowish-white with a purplish-blue 

 streak down the middle of the chest and breast; bill blackish-brown; 

 feet dark-brown; iris dark-brown. Total length 3.7 inches, culmen .35, 

 wing 2.5, tail 1.2, tarsus .5. Female: Brownish-black above; throat white; 

 under tail-eoverts pale scarlet; rest of under-surface creamy-white, without 

 the purplish-streak. Rather smaller. 



The Mistletoe-bird, or Swallow Dicmum, is widely diffused 

 throughout the Continent, but is often unobserved, as it keeps 

 much to the tops of the trees and is screened by the foliage. 

 The male is conspicuous enough, if visible, by its rich scarlet 

 breast, and the song is "a very animated and long-continued 

 strain" forming- a pretty warbling song. It has a quick darting 

 flight, and does not pry and creep about branches like a Honey- 

 Eater. It takes special delight in visiting the Mistletoes 

 (Loranths) which are parasitic on the trees. Its chief food is 

 insects, but it has a particular weakness for the rather sweet but 

 sickly and sticky berries of the Loranths. The nest is a 

 beautiful purse-like structure composed of the white cottony 

 hairs found in the seed eases of Asclepiads and other plants, 

 and is suspended to branches of the foliage. The eggs are of 

 a chalky white, and measure .75 x .45 inch. 



Genus Pardalotus. 

 Confined to Australia and Tasmania. 



