ZOSTEROPS. 



209 



Family ZOSTEROPID^. 



G-emjlS ZOSTEISOP=S, Vigor.'^ and Horsfield. 



Zosterops lateralis. 



SILVER-EYE. 

 Sylvia lateralis, Lath., Iiid. Orn., Suppl., p. Iv. (1801). 



Dacnis iresternensis, Quoy et Gaim., Voy. de I'Asti'ol., Tom. I., p. 215, and Atlas, pi. 11., fig. 4 



(1830) (breeding plumage). 

 Zosterops dorsalis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. IV., pi. 81 (1848) (winter plumage). 

 Zosterops carulescens, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. .586 (1865); Sharps, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., Vol. IX., p. 152 (1884) (winter plumage); North, Proc. Linn. Soo. N.S.W., Vol. X., 

 2ndSer., p. 473 (1896); id., Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol. II., p. 98 (1896). 

 Zosterops ivesternensis, Sharps, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus,, Vol. IX., p. 155 (1884) (breeding plumage). 



Adult male (Breeding plumage) — Ilind-nech, mantle, scapulars and upper portion of the back 

 dark aslty-grey ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts olive-yellow: upper iving-coverts olive-yellow ; 

 qrdlls and tail feathers dusky-brown, externally edged ivith olive- yellow; forehead, crown and sides of 

 head, including the ear-coverts, dull olive-yellow, around the eye a ring of silvery-ivhite feathers, which 

 is hroke^i on tKe anterior portion by a small black spot 171 front of the eye, a blackish ivash also extending 

 to the feathers below the tvhite eye circlet; chin, cheeks, and throat bright yellow; fore neck and breast 

 pale ashy-grey, slightly darker on the sides of the fore neck, and almost ashy-white on the centre of the 

 loiver breast ; abdomen and flanks pale creamy-brown; under tail-coverts dull white, in some specimens 

 pale yelloiv; billbrown, the basal half of loiver mandible greyisli horn-colour; legs andfeet grey; iris 

 brown. Total length in the flesh 4'7-j incites, wing 2'3, tail 1'7'>, bill O'Jf., tarsus 0-7. 



Adult pe5I.\le (Breeding plmnage) — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Adult male ( ]Vinter plumage) — Differs from the breeding plumage in having the chin and sides 

 of the throat faint olive-yellow, the centre of the throat and the fore neck ashy, the centre of the lower 

 breast and abdomen dull white, and the loiver sides of the body deep tawny-buff. 



Adult female ( Winter plumage) — Similar in phimage to the male. 



DistribrUion — Southern Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Tasmania, 

 New Zealand, Norfolk Island. 



a) ATHAM described the type of this species 



K 



'f 



■"m- 



name of Svlvia hitcralis, which is founded on the 



Rusty-sided Warbler of his "Supplement to the 



-;^-^ General Synopsis of Birds," and states there it 



^(.ij^ inhabits New South Wales. I have discarded 



Latham's' prior name of Ccrtliia arntkscens, founded 



on the "Ca?rulean Creeper," as it is impossible to 



recognise in the diagnosis or description whether 



they were intended to characterise the present 



species. There are about one hundred species of 



the widely-distributed genus Zosterops, eight of 



which are found in Australia or the adjacent islands. The present familiar and well-known 



resident is an inhabitant of Southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, 



Tasmania, and New Zealand, and has also been found by Dr. P. H. Metcalfe on Norfolk Island. '■■ 



SILVER-EYE 



• North, Rec. Austr. Mus,, Vol. V., p. 338 (1904). 



