BIRDS OF THE BUFFALO BASIN 217 



The Green White-eye — Z. vircns Sund. — is a much 

 rarer species in our neighbourhood than the preceding, 

 but has its place among our resident nesting species. At 

 East London it occurs in the shore scrub where it hunts 

 in company with the last-named species through the 

 thick bush, displaying its acrobatic powers as it searches 

 for tiny insects on the twigs. In the neighbourhood of 

 Pirie it is met with sparingly below, in and above the 

 forest. On 14 February, 1911, one entered Miss Carry 

 Ross' room to escape from a storm; Avhen caught it ut- 

 tered a cry of distress which reminded me of the shriek- 

 ing made by kestrels when toying with each other in the 

 air. 



At Somerville, where the relative numbers of the two 

 si)ecies are reversed, the Green White-eye is abundant. 

 He knows the flower calendar and the fruit calendar to 

 perfection. In July he accompanies the honeysuckers 

 at the blossoms of the blue gum; towards the end of 

 August he appears in the fig-fence at the first sign of 

 the young figs, and while keeping his eye on the figs till 

 the latter part of May he has meanwhile been visiting 

 the apples and levying toll there. But we must give the 

 little fellow his due ; he is not always at the fruit. Often 

 enough he works away in bushes and trees which have 

 no fruit, and in spring and early summer he hops about 

 perkily on the ground and helps us to get rid of our 

 insect foes. I have seen one with a grub quite an inch 

 and a half long; carrying it to a branch he settled down 

 to deal with it. Holding the grub by one end and using 

 it as a flail he beat it many times against the branch. 

 Flying off with it to another perch he there repeated the 

 process. He then worked the grub half through his bill 

 and resumed the flailing. He continued the flailing till 

 the grub was positively dead and quite limp, then strik- 

 ing an attitude for the final scene he gulped down the 

 huge morsel with ease. 



