FLOWERPECKER, OR MISTLETOE-BIRD. 
Nest is rather a neat pear-shaped structure, with a slit-like entrance on the side; is 
composed almost entirely of cobwebs, spiders’ cocoons intermingled and matted 
together with brownish downy seeds, and, on the outside, the stained sawdust-like 
excreta of various wood-boring insects. The nest is firmly constructed, and has 
quite a remarkable “ felt ” or “ elastic-like ” feeling to the touch, and is a wonderful 
production for a bird. It is usually suspended from a twig of a bushy tree, and the 
height varying from 4 to about 25 feet up from the ground. Measurements 
are : Length over all 3 to 3} inches, breadth over all If to inches, and the 
entrance is about 1£ inches long by \ to sometimes nearly f of an inch across. 
Breeding-months. September to end December or January. 
This was one of the earliest Australian birds to be described, as it was 
figured by Shaw and Nodder in their Naturalists' Miscellany, and also by 
Lewin. 
Nevertheless Gould’s notes are the first of any importance, as follows : 
“ By far the greater number of the Australians are, I believe, unacquainted 
with this beautiful little bird, yet there is scarcely an estate in either of the 
colonies in which it may not be found either as a permanent resident or an 
occasional visitor. Its natural disposition, leading it to confine itself almost 
exclusively to the topmost branches of the loftiest trees, is doubtless the cause 
of its not being more generally known than it is, its rich-scarlet breast not 
even attracting notice at the distance from the ground at which it generally 
keeps, and, in obtaining specimens, I was more frequently made aware of 
its presence by its pretty warbling song than by its movements among the 
branches ; so small an object, in fact, is most difficult of detection among 
the thick foliage of the lofty Casuarinae, to which trees it is extremely partial, 
particularly to those growing on the bank?: of creeks and rivers. It is also 
frequently to be seen among the clusters of the beautiful parasitic Loranthus, 
which is very common on the Casuarinae in the neighbourhood of the Upper 
Hunter. Whether the bird is attracted to this mistletoe-like plant for the 
purpose of feeding upon its sv'eet and juicy berries I could not ascertain ; 
its chief food is insects, but in all probability it may occasionally vary its food. 
The Swallow Dicseum has neither the actions of the Pardalotes nor of the 
Honey-eaters; it differs from the former in its quick darting flight, and from 
the latter in its less prying, clinging, and creeping actions among the leaves, 
etc. When perched on a branch it sits more upright, and is more Swallow-like 
in its contour than either of the forms alluded to ; the structure of its nest 
and the mode of its nidification are also very dissimilar. Its song is a very 
animated and long continued strain, but is uttered so inwardly that it is almost 
necessary to stand beneath the tree upon which the bird is perched before 
its notes can be heard. It would appear that the range of this species extends 
to all parts of the Australian continent, since I have received specimens from 
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