234 Cauon Tristram on an apparently 



141. MicKOHiERAX SINENSIS^ Sharpc. 



A single adult female of this rare little Falcon. 



" On the 2nd November, 1886, this specimen, a female in 

 monltj was shot on the banks of the river Isl'in, about 25 

 miles beyond Foochow by my shooting-boy, who told me 

 that it was perched on a telegraph-pole, and that he also 

 saw another one. He examined the stomach and found it 

 contained insects." — J. D. T. 



142. MlLVUS MELANOTIS, T. & S. 



Three immature birds. 



"Extremely abundant all over the cultivated country. 

 They begin to breed about February, and nest in clumps of 

 pines near villages."'' — J. D. T. 



143. Haliastur INDUS (Bodd.). 



A single specimen, killed on 22nd August. 

 ''The only one I have ever seen here."'' — J. D. T. 



XXII. — On an apparently new Species o/ Zosterops /ro??i 

 Madagascar. By H. B. Tristram, D.D., F.R.S. 



The distribution of the great Meliphagine genus Zosterops 

 is one of the most interesting studies in ornithological 

 geography. Occurring throughout the whole of the Indian, 

 Ethiopian, Australian, and Pacific regions, there are no cha- 

 racters which in the least mark off the " White-eyes " of one 

 region from those of another. Some African, Indian, and 

 Australian species are so closely allied as to be only with diffi- 

 culty discriminated, e.g. Z. siamensis, Z. sener/alensis, Z. lutea, 

 from the three regions widest apart. But there is one pecu- 

 liarity common to all the regions. While the genus may, 

 for convenience, be divided into two groups, the green-and- 

 vellow and the grey-and-white, I am not aware of any of the 

 latter group being found on continental or quasi-continental 

 areas. In the insular areas, on the contrary, we generally 

 find two species, one of each group, and this in the Indian 

 and Pacific Oceans alike. Some of the grey Zosteropinse from 

 the Pacific have representatives all Init identical in the Mas- 



