Forty 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
March, I9M 
fruits but sonic maintain that 
Opossums (Phalangers) also do so, 
and there are other birds which 
feed on the fruits. For instance, 
in a late number ol “The Emu ’ 
(Vol. 50, pt. 4, p. 325, 1951) K. A. 
Hind word and A. R. McGill, in 
their account of the 1950 camp-out 
at “Derra Derra” near Bingara in 
New South Wales, state that the 
Painted Honeyeater ( Grant iella 
picta) and the Spiny-Cheeked i 
Honeyeater (A can I hagenys rufogu- 
laris) were feeding on mistletoe 
berries. In the Adelaide district, 
the most common Loranthus are 
L. Exocarpi , widely distributed 
even within the city of Adelaide on 
Olives, the tall Norfolk Island 
Lagunaria Patersonii, Rob ini a, 
Orange, Ash and even on L. 
Miquelii growing on Eucalyptus; 
and L. Miquelii on Eucalyptus. 
The terete leaved L. Preissi may be 
found occasionally on Acacias. 
The Mistletoe Bird ( Dicaeum ) 
has not been recorded from Kan- 
garoo Island and for long it was 
thought that no mistletoe grew 
there. In the last few years, how- 
ever, L. miraculosus var. Mela - 
leucae, which parasitizes Melaleucas 
has been found on the island; this 
species is also common on tea-tree 
along the Coorong. 
Mrs. Coleman, in her interesting 
“Further Notes on the Mistletoe” 
(The Victorian Naturalist, Vol. 
56, No. 10, Feb. 1950, p. 191) de- 
scribes having seen Mistletoe Birds 
voiding the viscid seeds and draw- 
ing the left foot swiftly backwards 
twice or thrice, as if to wipe off the 
seeds, as they were voided — quite 
unnecessarily in this instance be- 
cause they had dropped on to a 
branch.” Another bird defe- 
cated, Hung a foot backward and, 
apparently, caught the dropping on 
its leg. It then picked it off the leg 
and wiped it on a bough.” Mrs. 
Coleman was surprised at the small 
amount of nourishment that the 
bird could obtain from each fruit 
if the seed passed contained so 
much viscin. Birds feeding on 
mistletoe berries must also fre- 
quently get the sticky fruits on the 
outside of the bill and adjacent 
parts and get rid of these by 
wiping the fruits off on a branch. 
Mistletoe berries noted by Mrs. 
Coleman as being found on a tele- 
phone line must obviously have 
got there by this latter method and 
not by being passed by the bowel. 
Dicaeum has been found feed- 
ing on apple and the berries of 
Coprosma as well as the fruits of 
Loranthus and 1 have been given 
notes of Silver-eyes feeding on 
grapes, apples, pears, peaches, 
blackberries and the fruits of a 
yellow Crataegus , Cotone aster , 
Coprosma and even of the Pepper- 
tree ( Schinus molle), and at Cook- 
town of Lantana camara (G. M. 
Storr). Amongst the Honeyeaters, 
the larger species, particularly the 
Wattle-birds, the Spiny-checked 
Honeyeater and the Blue-faced 
Honeyeater and probably the 
Miners and Friar Birds are at times 
fruit-eaters and may spread the 
small seeds of figs and blackberries. 
The White-plumed Honeyeater 
has been noted eating apples, the 
Singing Honeyeater grapes on 
racks and the Yellow-wing Honey- 
eater loquats and pears. The seed- 
eating Finches, tending to break 
up the food ingested, are unlikely 
to aid in the spread of any plants. 
The Oriole has been found in Ade- 
laide to have African Box thorn 
berries in its stomach and at lmbil 
in Queensland the seeds of Ink- 
berries ( Phytolacca ). The Spotted 
Bower-bird and other members of 
the genus Chlaniydera are notori- 
