AUSTRALIA'S HUMMING-BIRD 121 



tion if not to carry the delusion further by resemblance to 

 a flower ? 



These glorious pigeons are but a few of the many birds 

 that come to the tree with its millions of pink figs, and enliven 

 the scene with soft notes and eager whistles. Varied and fasci- 

 ated honey-eaters, black and white, and Jardine's caterpillar- 

 eaters, the tiny swallow dicaeum, in a tight-fitting costume of 

 blue-black and red (who must bruise and batter the fruit to 

 reduce it to gobbling dimensions), the yellow white-eye (who 

 pecks it to pieces), the white-bellied and the varied graucalus, 

 the drongo, the shining calornis — these and others have been 

 included time after time in the one enumeration. 



Cockatoos do not visit the fig-trees as systematically as 

 might be expected. When they come they waste almost as 

 lavishly as the flying foxes at night, nipping off branchlets 

 and dropping them after eating but two or three of the figs. 



When the grey falcon soars overhead the birds display 

 varied forms of strategy. The inconspicuous pigeons 

 crouch motionless but alert, their eyes fixedly following the 

 circles of the enemy ; the readily detected graucalus fly 

 straight to a forest tree, whence there is a clear get-away ; 

 the companies of yellow white-eyes, with a unanimous note 

 of alarm, dart into the jungle ; the caterpillar-eaters and 

 the honey-eaters, peering about, drop discreetly down 

 among the lower branches, and silence prevails. 



No serious heed is taken of the white-headed sea- 

 eagle. Though the fruit-eaters do not recognise the lordly 

 fellow on the instant of his appearance, he may perch on 

 the topmost branches of the tree to scrutinise the shallows, 

 and they will resume their feasting and noise. But a 

 falcon is as a death's-head, and alas ! too often a sanguinary 

 disturber of the peace, as the tufts of painted feathers tell. 



Australia's Humming-bird 



One of the most self-assertive of birds of the island is 

 also one of the least — the sun-bird {Cinnyris frenata). 



