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Mr. Gr. M. Ryan, an Indian forest officer, has also been making inquiries in regard 
to the spread of Loranthus Mistletoe in India, which is recognised in that country as a 
source of danger to the forests. He had been making inquiries similar to those of Mr. 
Keeble, and independently of that gentleman makes the very interesting statement 
that the bird which spreads Loranthus in India is, like the Ceylon bird, also a Dicwum, 
and, in fact, the same as the Ceylon species. 
The Indian and Ceylon bird swallows the seed in order to get as much of the 
sweet, viscid, coating as possible, and Mr. Ryan is emphatic that the seed does pass through 
the bird. That it is sweet and pleasant to the taste every schoolboy knows, but it might 
not be wise to eat many of them. The only difference in the method of eating the fruit 
between the Indian and Australian species is that the former does not open the so-called 
Ud of the fruit, as described by Mr. Ashworth, but squeezes the seed out of the skin of the 
fruit by pressure at its narrow end. I think, however, that if further observations be 
made, both in India and Australia, it will be probably found that there is no real 
difference in the way the two birds get at the mistletoe seed. 
Quite recently Mr. Charles F. Johncock has shown in South Australia that two 
other birds in that State contribute to the dissemination of Mistletoe, viz., the yellow- 
rumped tomtit (Acanthiza), and another bird known as Ptilotus sanora. Perhaps 
New South Wales observers will give attention to the matter, for we still have much to 
learn in regard to the spread of Mistletoe. 
Mistletoe is what is known as a parasite that is to say, it lives on the juices of 
its host-plant. It begins life, as we have seen, by being deposited on the branches, as 
a seed, by a small bird. Germination takes place, and the tiny plant pushes forth its 
branches into the bark and wood of the tree which supports it. As growth proceeds 
it contends with the branch for a supply of its sap, and ends by killing the branch and 
itself, not, however, before it has produced a large number of fruits to propagate its kind. 
From fodder trees and all other valuable trees it should be cut out with a saw, the cut 
being made between the bunch of mistletoe and the trunk, so as to cut away the 
parasitic roots. An important point is that the spread of Mistletoe indicates the 
increasing debility of the trees, which debility, I contend, has, in the case of kurrajongs 
and some other trees, been enhanced or brought about by their ruthless lopping. In 
some districts kurrajongs were never known to be affected by Mistletoe until the 
drought. 
What is the cause of the debility? Senile decay in many cases, the old trees 
being affected, the young trees, which would naturally succeed them, being eaten out, 
or not allowed to grow, the ground around the old trees being trodden down and 
rendered hard. 
Mr. Ryan, the Indian forest officer to whom I have already alluded, discusses 
the best way of getting rid of the mistletoe, and he recommends lopping of the affected 
branches. He points out (but does not recommend it) that the obvious method is to 
destroy the birds that live on the fruits ; but, apart from the cruelty of such a proceeding, 
its cost, in Australia, at least, would be quite out of the question, and people might 
