54 T>ovK, The While-eye. [ i.f ' oVt. 



feature in an otherwise protectively coloured creature. Why 

 these startHng white rings should have developed in an other- 

 wise quiet plumage, consisting almost entirely of greenish tints 

 and browns, is a conundrum. 



Still another, but less pleasant, nickname for our subject is 

 " Cherry-picker," bestowed by the bush-folk on account of its 

 fondness for that small fruit ; half a dozen birds will get into a 

 tree, and, stabbing away at the ripest cherries with their almost 

 needle-sharp bills, will soon spoil the crop. We do not object to 

 what is eaten, but so much is stabbed and left hanging damaged 

 and useless on the tree. Cherries are not the only toll levied ; 

 one summer a regular army of " Pickers " invaded my bush 

 garden, and hollowed out nearly all the ripe gooseberries as they 

 hung on the bushes ; in many cases just a small hole was 

 pierced and the contents of the berry extracted through that, 

 leaving the shell hanging apparently intact ; grapes were treated 

 in the same way. 



However, we do not bear little Girdle-eye (which is a literal 

 translation of the generic name Zosterops) any ill-will on this 

 account, for he is such a splendid insect-destroyer during a great 

 part of the year, and may be seen hunting the apple trees for 

 woolly-blight, peering into bark crevices, and pecking away 

 at knobby protuberances where this insect foe lurks. He will 

 also search gum saplings and other young trees for the scale- 

 insects, which cause much damage, and when he hunts in large 

 parties, as is the case this autumn, an immense quantity of our 

 insect enemies must be destroyed. 



Several species of White-eye are found in Australia, but only 

 one in Victoria and Tasmania. As to classification, some 

 naturalists place it among the MelipJuxgidcE, or Honey-eaters — a 

 very conspicuous family among our birds. Colonel Legge 

 separates it from the Honey-eaters, and places it in a family, 

 Zosteropidce, of the Swallow-like Passcres, possessed of nine 

 primaries. 



A frail little nest of this species was found about 4 feet from 

 the ground in a swamp tea-tree {Ulelaleuca erici'foh'a), supported 

 only by one slender twig, although partially tied to two upright 

 stems by means of bark fibres. The structure was very slight, 

 so much so that one could see through it, and was formed of 

 fine stringybark fibres [^Eucalyptus obliquii) and mosses, with a 

 few small circular v/hite spider cocoons stuck on the outside ; 

 the lining was of horsehair, and the nest contained two blue 

 eggs and a young bird. It is strange that the White-eye nearly 

 always has some of the spider cocoons placed on the nest as if 

 for adornment ; I think it probable that they are carried when 

 full of eggs to the young in the home, and the eggs being 

 disposed of, the empty cocoons are wiped off the beak of the 

 parent bird on the outside of the nest. 



