224 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



colours, the whole of the upper part being deep, glossy blue- 

 black ; the throat, breast, and under tail-coverts of a fiery scarlet ; 

 and the abdomen pure white. It has a very sweet though low 

 and inward note, so faint as scarcely to be audible from the tops 

 of the trees, but continued for a long time together. 



Artificial aids to vision are reqtiired in order to watch the 











SWALLUW DlLiSUK 



habits of the Dicaeum, for it loves the tops of the tallest trees, 

 where its minute body can scarcely be seen without the assistance 

 of glasses. The Casuarinte are favourite trees with this bird, 

 which is fond of flitting about the branches of a parasitic plant 

 called loranthus, which bears viscid berries. It is not precisely 

 known whether the bird liaunts the loranthus for the sake of the 



