Abstract
AN ARTIFICE OF NECTAR-SIPPING BIRDS.—In a communication sent to us by Mr. P. M. Debbarman of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sibpur, Calcutta, he records that the flowers of Castanospermum australe are visited by the nectar-sipping bird Mirafra assamica in India. The beak of this bird is not sufficiently long to reach the nectar in the calyx cups, so the bird appears to have adopted the practice of biting off the fleshy petals which obstruct it. The tree is not a native of India but is of Australian origin, and it would be interesting to know whether any nectar-sipping birds attack the blossoms of this tree in Queensland, where it is native.
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Research Items. Nature 109, 489–490 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109489a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109489a0