DIC.^UM MINIMUM. 
575 
dusky wask on the sides of tiie chest, and becoming flavescent on the centre of the breast and belly ; flanks 
cinereous. 
In some examples the secondaries are edged with olivaceous. 
Young. Iris darker browm than in the adult, with a slaty outer circle ; upper mandible tinged with yellowish, and its 
margin, together with the under mandible, yellowish. 
Above more olivaceous than old birds ; quills and wing-coverts edged greenish ; throat and fore neck duskier thnn in 
adults. 
Ohs. I have not been able to compare Ceylonese examples with many from the mainland. A specimen in the national 
collection, marked “ India,” measures 1-95 inch in the wing, and 0-41 from gape of bill to tip. It is somewhat 
more olive-coloured on the back and rump than my specimens, but corresponds otherwise with them. 
An allied sj)6cies to this is B. concolor from South India, an inhabitant of the Nilghiris and other peninsular ranges. 
It is larger than B. minimum., and is, according to Jerdon, more albescent beneath. Dr. Dairbank remarks that it 
frequents a parasitical LoTcuithns which grows on the Australian Blackwood (Acacia melctnoxylo'ii), and gives the 
measurements of a female as follows ; — Length 3-6, wing 2-1, tail 1-0, tarsus 0-55, bill from gape 0-5. This s^xicies 
might possibly occur in Ceylon. These Flowerpeckers are seldom shot, and it may have been passed over. 
I should perhaps likewise notice another species described of late years from the Andamans, belonging to the subgroup 
containing the two species already referred to here. This is B. vireseens, Hume (Str. I’eath. 1873, p. 482). It 
“ differs from B. minimum iu its somewhat longer bill, which is very differently coloured, in the much greener 
hue of the upper surface, and in the olive-yellow tinge of the runqq upper tail-coverts, and abdomen. It is 
considerably smaller than B. concolor, is of a purer and lighter olive-green, and differs from that, as from 
B. minimum, in the rump and upper tail-coverts. Length 3-1 to 3-4 inches, wing 1’75 to 1'85.” 
Distribution. — This tiny bird is very numerous in Ceylon, and inhalits the whole island, irrespective of 
climate or elevation. It seems as much at home in the damp cool jungles of the Horton Plains as in the hot 
forests of the Northern Province or the warm humid “ Mukalaney ” of the south. It is found as plentifully 
near the sea as in the interior, and is very common in the cinnamon-gardens of Colombo. 
It occurs, according to Jerdon, “throughout lower Bengal and the jungles of Central India, extending 
to the Himalayas, Assam, and Aralcan. Blyth observed it in extreme abundance in the hill-jungles about 
IMoulmein. It is also found, though rarely, in Southern India, being there replaced by D. concolor.” 
As it is so abundant in Ceylon, it is strange that it should be rare in the adjoining part of the mainland ; 
but in this respect it, after all, only forms one of the many curious instances of the affinity of the avifaunas of 
Ceylon and Northern India. The Rev. Dr. Fairbank found it common on the western slopes of the Sahyadris, 
and near Bombay and Poona it is, according to Mr. B. Aitken, very numerous. Mr. Ball remarks that it is 
found in Sal-jungle in most parts of Chota Nagpur, though it is not very common anywhere. Captain 
Beavan recorded it as plentiful near Maunbhoom in the breeding-season. 
Habits. — This Flowerpecker, which is the smallest of Ceylon birds, frequents the parasitic plants 
{Loranthusi) which grow on various trees throughout the island, none of which are so infested with this 
singular vegetable growth as the Cadju {Sarcoclinium longifolium). It may consequently always be met with 
where there are many of these trees, about the leaves and smaller branches of which it flits when it is not 
gorging itself on the berries of the parasite. In the forests it affects the various creepers, some of them of the 
Pandanus tribe, which entwine the trunks of large trees. It is usually a solitary bird; I have sometimes seen 
more than two in the same tree, but such is an exception to the rule. It is very active, springing from branch 
to branch of the thick bunches of parasitic plants, and then darting off to another tree with a quick dipping 
flight, uttering its sharp little monosyllabic chirp while on the wing. It appears, from personal observation, 
to be entirely frugivorous ; and feeding so gluttonously on its favourite berries, it becomes stupefied to such 
an extent that it may sometimes be almost taken with the hand before flying off. Its bill is generally stained 
with the juice of some sort of berry or fruit whenever it is shot ; and I have never detected any trace of insect- 
food in the crop of those I have procured. It is, however, said by Indian writers to be insectivorous ; for 
Beavan writes {he. cit.), “ It has a weak piping note, and is met with in heavy jungle, in thick trees, busily 
engaged seeking amongst the leaves for insects.^’ 
