NESTS AXD EGGS OF AI'STRAUAN BIRDS. 



MO 



It would appear tliat tho little Zosterops wanders oeeasionally inland. 

 I find by my notes that on 5th October, 1880, I took a nest with eggs in 

 the Whipstick Sci-ub, Bendigo distnct; and on 9th November, 1882, 

 observed another nest with its pretty blue eggs in a polygonum bush at 

 Benjeroop, on the Lower MuiTay. 



Mr. A. J. North has on several ocea.sions taken an egg of the Cuekoo 

 (C . hnmlif) from a nest of the Wliite Eye. How beautiful the strange 

 pink-speckled egg must have appeared alongside the uniform light 

 bluish eggs of the White Eye ! Surely it is an exception to the iiile (if 

 there be a rule) that Cuckoos deposit their eggs in a nest that contains 

 similar coloiu-ed eggs to their own. 



With reference to Z . we-^fernnisex, Quov and Gaimard, Mr. North has 

 by clever and careful research, '"^with the assistance of several collectors, 

 prepared a series of nearly fifty skins of the Zosterops in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sydney for examination and conclusively proved (notwithstanding 

 that he has foi-merly published : " At Manly I have .shot the two species 

 in company with each other ")t that the Z . wesfrrnemtes, the type of 

 wliich was obtained by Quoy and Gaimard at Western Port, Victoria, 

 is only the spring and summer attire of Z. rrrriilesrem, Latham, when it 

 i=; most conspicuous for its bright or waxy-yellow throat. 



The chief breeding months of the Wliite Eye arc October to January, 

 and during good seasons, to February. Mr. C. C. Brittlebank took fresh 

 eggs at Oakleigh. Victoria. I2th Fcbruaiy, 189,3. while Mr. B. C. 

 Bardwcll found othei-s near Lilvdale about the middle of the same 

 month, 1897. 



Tlie following is a migration note I received from Mr. C. C. Brittle- 

 bank, 9th April, 1897 : — " Early in the morning about five o'clock, and 

 before the stars had disappeared, I heard the calls of Wliite Eyes passing 

 overhead. As it was getting light I observed a number of small birds 

 drop into the pine trees. Wlien broad da^'light, another flock came 

 down from a height and proved to be Wliite Eyes (ZoKfempa)." 



For a pair — " Nest of the White Eye " and " Nest of the Yellow- 

 faced Honeyeatcr," see illustration. 



286. — Zosterops r.^msayi. Masters. 

 YELLOW-A^rENTED WHITE EYE. 



Reference — Proc. Linn Soc,, N S. Wales, vol. i., p. 56 



Geofirnphirnl Disttrihutinn. — North Queensland (Palm Islands). 



Next and Eggs. — Undcscribed. 



Ohservatinnn.- — Some doubt has been thrown on the validity of this 

 species. Mr. North considers it is a good and distinct one, with olive- 



* Rec. Austn. Mus. ii , p g8. 

 t Cat. Nests and Eggs, p. 234. 



