147 
The Honey-eaters : The Bell-bird 
one may travel day after day without seeing a single specimen, 
yet there are localities where the bell-bird is still abundant, to 
disclose these places would be more beneficial to the skin 
dealers and exchangers than for our feathered friends. Con¬ 
fident, utterly devoid of any shy cunning, the bell-bird might 
be readily cleared off from any favoured resort by a merciless 
collector. ” 
Referring in another place to the beautiful, sweet-scented 
mistletoe, Loranthus micrantkus, Potts writes (PO, p. 135), 
“.It blossoms early in the spring, and however insignificant 
the flowers may appear to a casual observer, the plant is very 
attractive at all times of the year; the foliage is of a rich dark 
green, so closely arranged as to form a dense bush, that is after 
it has attained some years of age; at the season of flowering 
the passer-by cannot fail to notice the fragrant perfume that is 
given off by the flowers, this is more especially noticeable in a 
close warm state of the atmosphere, when the air for a con¬ 
siderable distance in the vicinity of the shrub seems fairly 
laden with its powerful odour. As the berries ripen they 
become whitish or faintly roseate, till they assume a rich golden 
yellow, but in this state they remain but a short space of time, 
for the berry-eating birds are too fond of this fruit, to allow 
this dainty food to remain untouched, the berries are greedily 
picked off as they ripen; we have seen a dense mass of this 
parasite crowded, or it may be said, astir with bell-birds, when 
for the nonce, it has become as it were, a concert hall of nature, 
whence issued forth gushes of sweet sound, a flood of most 
delightful harmony. ’ ’ Here he removes the charge of in- 
harmony of the bell-bird’s music, made earlier in the 
quotation. 
It is in writing of the Loranthines, too, that Potts gives one 
of his beautiful descriptions of part of New Zealand, that 
delightful haunt of melodious birds and beautiful things. He 
writes (PO, p. 137) : “For any desirous of seeing how goodly 
a display can be exhibited by some of the loranthine tribe, 
more especially for those to whom the grandeur and magnifi¬ 
cence of the more remote recesses of the Alpine districts are 
M 
