196 MELIPHAGlD-5:, 



coverts white ; tail-feathers dusky bhickish, externally edged with 

 grey, internally fringed with whitish ; crown of the head like the 

 back ; lores dusky, with a narrow whitish line above ; no ring of 

 feathers round the eye ; ear-coverts lighter ashy than the back ; 

 cheeks and chin hoary white ; rest of the throat, fore neck, and 

 breast ashy grey ; abdomen whitish, tinged slightly with ashy ; 

 sides of the body and the flanks ashy grey ; thighs and under tail- 

 coverts white, the latter tinged slightly with ashy ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries white ; quills below dusky brown ; inner edge 

 of quills ashy. Total length 4-5 inches, culmeu 0-5, wing 2-2, tail 

 1*65, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult female. Total length 4*5 inches, culmen 0'5, wing 2'2, tail 

 1"7, tarsus 0-7. 



Young male. Total length 4*3 inches, wing 2-15, tarsus 0*7. 



Young female. Total length 4'2 inches, wing 2'1, tai'sus 0'75. 



The female differs from the male in being rusty brown above, 

 clearer rusty on the ear-coverts, sides of neck, sides of breast, and 



Young birds resemble the adult female in being rusty brown 

 above, but grey on the head, ear-coverts, and sides of neck ; fore 

 jjart of cheeks and chin white ; rest of the throat and the breast 

 light ashy grey, a little whiter on the abdomen : sides of breast 

 and flanks clear rusty brown. 



From a comparison of the British-Museum series with the skins 

 of Z. newtoni and Z. horbonica lent me by Professor Newton, it is 

 evident that these two species are the same, a perfect gradation 

 being found from one to the other ; but whether the brown-backed 

 bird is the winter plumage, or the dress of the adult female, I have 

 not been able to determine. 



Hab. Island of Reunion or Bourbon. 



a. Jxiv. sk. Bourbon. Purchased. 



b. 5 ad. ; e, Juv. sk. Bourbon. R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



7o. Zosterops javanica. 



Sylvia j a vanica, Hursf. Tram. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 15(5 (1820). 



Zosterops javanica, Swains. Faun. Bor.-Amer., Birds, p. 205 (1831) ; 

 Graj/, Gen. B. i. p, 198 ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 398 ; Horsf. ^- Moore, 

 Cat. B. E.I. Co. Mas. i. p. 263; Gray, Hand-l. B. i."p. 164, no. 

 2171. 



Adult. Very similar to Z. falla.v, but differing in having a very 

 broad white eyebrow and a streak of white feathers below the eye ; 

 otherwise exactly like the above-mentioned species. Total length 4'7 

 inches, culmen 0'55, wing 2'45, tail 1-75, tarsus 0*75. 



Hab. Java. 



a, b. Ad. sk, Java {Horsjield). India Museum. 



(Types of species.) 



