Lieut. Burgess on the Bird^ qf Western India. 175 



ZOSTEROPS STRENUUS. ;f!in(l h;'ii] .•,-.^>.:.<; 'j.rfv/^!^f0> 



Head and upper surface bright olive-green, with a wash of darKj' 

 grey across the shoulders ; wings and tail slaty -brown, margined with 

 greenish olive ; eyes surrounded by the usual ring of white feathers, 

 beneath which is a narrow line of black ; chin and throat yellow ; 

 flanks pale vinaceous ; centre of the abdomen nearly white ; under 

 tail-coverts pale yellow ; bill and feet bluish black. 



Total length, 5f inches ; bill, 1 ; wing, 2f ; tail, 2^ ; tarsi, f. 



II ab. Lord Howe's Island. 



This is by far the largest species of the genus yet discovered. 



Platycercus cyanogenys. 



Crown of the head pale sulphur-yellow ; cheeks cserulean blue ; 

 feathers of the nape, back and scapularies black, broadly margined 

 with sulphur-yellow, stained with green on the lower part of the 

 back ; rump and upper tail-coverts greenish yellow, with an ex- 

 tremely narrow fringe of black at the tip of the feathers ; shoulder 

 and greater wing-coverts deep blue ; lesser coverts black, bordered 

 with deep blue ; primaries and secondaries blackish brown, the basal 

 half of their external webs deep blue, the apical half pale blue ; 

 tertiaries black, broadly margined with greenish yellow ; breast pale 

 greenish yellow, abdomen light greenish blue ; all the feathers of the 

 under surface slightly fringed with black ; under tail-coverts scarlet, 

 narrowly margined with yellow ; two middle tail-feathers greenish 

 blue ; the next on each side blue, slightly tipped with pale blue ; the 

 remainder blackish brown at the base of their internal webs, and 

 deep blue externally ; their apical portions being beautiful pale blue. 



Total length, 13 inches ; wing, 6i ; tail, 7 ; tarsi, f . 



Hab. Cape York, north-east coast of Australia. 



Remark. This species offers a very close alliance to Platycercus 

 palliceps, but differs in having no trace of scarlet on the forehead, in 

 the green tinge of the borderings of the feathers of the back, in the 

 greenish yellow of the breast, and in having the cheeks blue instead 

 of light yellow. 



Notes on the Nests and Eggs of the Birds of Western 

 India. — Part XL By Lieut. Burgess. 



Family Colymbid^e. 

 Genus Podiceps. 

 Podiceps philippensis. 



I believe the egg sent with this paper to be that of the Grebe. It 

 was taken from the nest with several others in the month of August. 

 The nests were composed of rotten reeds and grass, fastened between 

 tall reeds* ; each nest contained about eight eggs, 1 inch and nearly 



* The eggs were carefully covered over, and the heat arising from the nest was 

 most perceptible : the eggs appear to be hatched by the heat arising from the d^*, 

 caying vegetable matter. '- 



