Part 21

Dicæum atrogaster, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 303.

Moo-ne-jë-tang, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

By far the greater number of the colonists of Australia are, I am sure, totally unacquainted with this beautiful little bird, yet there is scarcely an estate in either of the colonies in which it may not be found as a permanent resident or an occasional visitor: a closer examination of the birds, and other natural objects with which we are most nearly surrounded, would at all times repay with interest the trouble of their investigation.

The natural disposition of this species 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 observed; its rich scarlet breast, so strongly contrasting with the other parts of its plumage, 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 Casuarinæ, to which trees it is extremely partial, particularly to those growing on the banks of creeks and rivers. It is also frequently to be seen among the branches of the beautiful parasite figured in the accompanying Plate: this charming Loranthus was gathered at Dartbrook, on the Upper Hunter, where it is very common on the Casuarinæ. Whether the bird is attracted to this misseltoe-like parasite, like many others, for the purpose of feeding upon its sweet and juicy berries, I could not fully make out; its chief food is insects, but in all probability it may partially feed on these fruits also.

The Swallow Dicæum 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, &c. 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 every locality yet explored by Europeans. I found it breeding on the Lower Namoi, which proves that the interior of the country is inhabited by it as well as those portions between the ranges and the coast.

Its beautiful purse-like nest, of which the drawing will give a far better idea than the most minute description, is composed of the white cotton-like substance found in the seed-vessels of many plants, and among other trees is sometimes suspended on a small branch of a Casuarina or an Acacia pendula. It was on the latter tree that I found a nest containing three or four young; a second nest with the eggs was given to me in Sydney. The ground-colour of the eggs is dull white, with very minute spots of brown scattered over the surface; they are nine lines long by five and a half lines broad.

The male has the head, all the upper surface, wings and tail black, glossed with steel-blue; primaries black; throat, breast, and under tail-coverts scarlet; flanks dusky; abdomen white, with a broad patch of black down the centre; irides dark brown; bill blackish brown; feet dark brown.

The female is dull black above, glossed with steel-blue on the wings and tail; throat and centre of the abdomen buff; flanks light brown; under tail-coverts pale scarlet.

The figures are of the natural size, on a branch of the Loranthus above mentioned, which I believe to be an undescribed species.

PARDALOTUS PUNCTATUS: Vieill.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

PARDALOTUS PUNCTATUS, Temm. Spotted Pardalote.

Pardalotus punctatus, Temm., Man., Part I. p. lxv.—Id. Pl. Col., 78.—Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. i. pl. 73.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 237.—Gould, Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.

Pipra punctata, Lath. Ind. Orn., Supp., p. lvi. No. 1.—Shaw, Nat. Misc., p. 111.—Id. Zool., vol. x. p. 30.

Speckled Manikin, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 253.—Id. Gen. Hist., vol. vii. p. 238.

Wë-dup-wë-dup, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

Diamond Bird, Colonists of New South Wales.

No species of the genus to which this bird belongs is more widely and generally distributed than the Spotted Pardalote; it inhabits the whole of the southern parts of the Australian continent from the western to the eastern extremities of the country, and is very common in Van Diemen’s Land. It is nearly always engaged in searching for insects among the foliage, both of trees of the highest growth and of the lowest shrubs; it frequents gardens and enclosures as well as the open forest; and is exceedingly active in its actions, clinging about in every variety of position both above and beneath the leaves with equal facility.

With regard to the nidification of this species, it is a singular circumstance, that in the choice of situation for the reception of its nest, it differs from every other known member of the genus; for while they always place their nests in the holes of trees, this species descends to the ground, and availing itself of any little shelving bank that occurs in its vicinity, excavates a hole just large enough to admit of the passage of its body, in a nearly horizontal direction to the depth of two or three feet, at the end of which a chamber is formed in which the nest is deposited. The nest itself is a neat and beautifully built structure, formed of strips of the inner bark of the Eucalypti, and lined with finer strips of the same or similar materials; it is of a spherical contour, about four inches in diameter, with a small hole in the side for an entrance. The chamber is generally somewhat higher than the mouth of the hole, by which means the risk of its being inundated upon the occurrence of rain is obviated. I have been fortunate enough to discover many of the nests of this species, but they are most difficult to detect, and are only to be found by watching for the egress or ingress of the parent birds from or into its hole or entrance, which is frequently formed in a part of the bank overhung with herbage, or beneath the overhanging roots of a tree. How so neat a structure as is the nest of the Spotted Pardalote, should be constructed at the end of a hole where no light can possibly enter is beyond our comprehension, and is one of those wonderful results of instinct so often presented to our notice in the history of the animal creation, without our being in any way able to account for them. The present species rears two broods in the course of the year, the eggs upon each occasion being four or five in number, rather round in form, of a beautiful polished fleshy white, seven and a half lines long by six and a half lines broad.

Its voice is a rather harsh piping note of two syllables often repeated.

The male has the crown of the head, wings, and tail black, each feather having a round spot of white near the tip; a stripe of white commences at the nostrils and passes over the eye; ear-coverts and sides of the neck grey; feathers of the back grey at the base, succeeded by a triangular-shaped spot of fawn-colour, and edged with black; rump rufous brown; upper tail-coverts crimson; throat, chest, and under tail-coverts yellow; abdomen and flanks tawny; irides dark brown; bill brownish black; feet brown.

The female may be distinguished by the less strongly contrasted tints of her colouring, and by the absence of the bright yellow on the throat.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

PARDALOTUS RUBRICATUS: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

PARDALOTUS RUBRICATUS, Gould. Red-lored Pardalote.