166 
AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
F. 141. DICAEIDAE (11), FLOWER-PECKERS, 113 sp.— 
57(57)A., 56(56)0. 
1 336*Australian Flower-Pecker, Mistletoe-Bird (-Swallow), 
74 Dicaeum hirundinaceum, A. Stat. c. treetops 3.5 
Black glossed steel-blue; throat, breast, under base tail 
scarlet; abdomen white, black patch down centre; 
flanks dusky; f.,* throat, centre-abdomen buff; under 
base tail pale scarlet. Honey, pollen, fruits, insects. 
Pretty, feeble song. 
panions heard nothing. So it is with the high-pitched call of a 
Bat, Have you heard one? Few have. 
The Mistletoe-Swallow should be called the Australian Flower- 
Pecker, for it is our one representative of a large genus, best 
developed in the Indian Region. 
Placed at present in Family 141 with the little Mistletoe-Bird 
are the Diamond-Birds of Australia, the plumage of our common 
kind of which is "so variegated and beautiful as to render 
description impossible." 
The Diamond-Birds are restricted to Australia. Though they 
are found mainly in high tree-tops, whence they prettily and con- 
tinuously call "wit-e-chu" and "wit-loo," some usually nest in a 
bank of earth. The bank of a dam, the side of a creek, and the 
earth suspended on the roots of a fallen tree are favorite places. 
Some people find the continuous, musical note annoying, and have 
named the Diamond-Bird the Headache-Bird. Others find it 
