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Show 1888.] HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 519 The plumage of a young bird is similar to that of the adult. Length of bill (from the front of the crown) .. 1T5 mm. Base of bill to tip of tail. . 41 in. Tail IX in. Wing 2f in. This Zosterops is, I suppose, the commonest bird on the island. The first note I heard on penetrating through the line of Hibiscus trees into the higher bush at Flying-Fish Cove was a short chirping proceeding from a party of them busy among the leaves and twigs above my head. I soon held one in my hand, and saw by the white ring round the eye that it was a species of Zosterops. I never heard any other note than this. The parties of them included young birds at the time of our visit, so perhaps it was the silent time with them, as some species have quite a melodious song. Two of their nests were found supported on the sides by horizontal branches, to which they were attached by vegetable fibres and the strong yellow web of a large Spider which is common in the bush. They are built of fibres and leaf-skeletons, fastened together with the same yellow material and with the white web of another kind ot Spider, and lined with the black hair-like fringes of the leaf-sheaths of a palm (Didymosperma porphyrocarpa) 1. The bird is olive-green above, with grey ear-coverts, and white below, the flanks being pale cinnamon. The genus Zosterops contains over 90 known species, and almost every year adds new ones to the list. These are distributed over a wide area, from Senegal and the Bight of Benin on the west to the Friendly Islands on the east, and from North China to New Zealand, Victoria, and Western Australia. A large number of the islands between these limits have their peculiar species, the Malay Archipelago being richest, while the continental areas, Africa, India, the eastern part of the Palaearctic Region and Australia are inhabited by a few wide-ranging forms. The great majority of the species have the breast alone, or the breast and belly, bright yellow. The closest ally of our bird is Z. mysoriensis, Meyer, from the Island of Mysori in Geelvink Bay, N e w Guinea. From this, however, it differs in the following points :- 1. The crown becomes paler towards the base of the tail. 2. The eye-ring is distinct2. 3. The lore is black and bordered above with a light streak, while Z. mysoriensis has the lore obscure and not so bordered. 4. The breast is white in the middle, not grey. 5. The flanks are brown, not grey. 1 Cf. the account of the nest of Z. palpebrosa in Legge's ' Birds of Ceylon, p. 584. 2 The only specimen of Z. mysoriensis that I have seen (in Canon Tristram's collection) appears (but the plumage is rather worn) to have no ring of white feathers round the eye. Salvadori makes no mention of the ring, though especially alluding to it in the allied species Z. fuscifrons and Z. hypoleuca. |
