212 



ZOSTEROPID*. 



It was in a tea-tree scrub at the mouth of the Yarra River near Melbourne, that I first found 

 the egg of the Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx hasalis) in the nest of this species. 



Zosterops vegeta. 



YELLOW-VENTED SILVER-EYE. 

 Zosterops tvesternensis vegeta, Hartert, Nov. Zool., Vol. VI., p. 425 (1899). 



Adult m.\le — Similar to the breeding plumage of the adult male of Z. l.\tek.a.lis, hut with paler 

 flanks, and the vent and under tail-coverts bright olive-yellow like (he throat: "bill black, basal half 

 of lower mandible horn-colour; legs a7id feet light brown" (Smith). Total length 4'~ inches, wing 

 2-2, tail 1-7, bill 0-4, tarsus 0-6S. 



Adult fe>i.\le — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distrihiition — North-eastern Queensland. 



/T^HE present species is distributed throughout the coastal districts of North-eastern 



-L Queensland. Dr. E. Hartert described the type from specimens obtained at Cape York. 



There are specimens in the. \ustralian Museum collection obtained by Mr. K. Broadbent, Messrs. 



E. J. Cairn and Robert Grant, and ^Ir. A. F. Smith in the neighbourhood of Cairns, Queensland. 



Whether this species undergoes a seasonal change of plumage like Z. lateralis, I am unable 

 to state from the small amount of material in hand. The specimen in which the differences 

 pointed out above occur, was obtained by Mr. A. F. Smith on the 23rd June, 1905, and its 

 plumage is the reverse to that of Z. lateralis, of South-eastern Australia at that time of the 

 year. Two more specimens in the collection obtained by Mr. K. Broadbent and Messrs. E. J. 

 Cairn and Robert Grant, are in the same stage of plumage, but the dates they were collected 

 are unknown. In the Bloomfield River District Mr. Frank Hislop informs me that it is found 

 both in the scrub and forest-land, and that its food is insects and small berries. On the label of 

 the specimen sent by Mr. Smith is recorded "food small fruits." 



The nest is a small, cup-shaped structure, formed chiefly of cocoa-nut fibre matted together 

 with cobwebs and green mosses, the inside being neatly lined with fine yellowish-brown wiry 

 rootlets. It measures externally two inches and a quarter in diameter by two inches in depth, 

 the inner cup measuring one inch and three-quarters in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. 



The eggs are three in number for a sitting, oval m form, the shell being smooth and close- 

 grained and its surface slightly lustrous. They are of a uniform pale greenish-blue and 

 measure: — Length (A) o-65 x 0-48 inches; (B) 0-62 x 0-47 inches; (C) o'62 x 0-45 inches. 



Zosterops gouldi. 



GREEN-BACKED SILVER-EYE. 

 Zosterops cMoronotus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 165; id., Bds. Austr., fol.,Vol.IV.,p]. 82(1848). 

 Zosterops gouldi, Bonap., Consp. Av., Tom. I., p. 398 (1850); Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., 

 p. 588(1865); Sharps, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IX., p 162 (1884). 

 Adult male — General colour above olive-green, slightly brighter on the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts; upper wing-coverts like the hack; quills and tail feathers dusky-brown, externally edged with 

 bright olive-green: around the eye a ring of silvery-white feathers, which is broken on the anterior 

 portion by a small black spot in, front of the eye, a blackish ivash also extending to the feathers below 

 the white eye-circlet; chin and throat yellow, slightly tinged with olive; fore neck and upper breast 

 ashy-grey; lower breast and flanks grey, washed with pale brown, the centre of the abdomen dull 



