ZOSTEROPS MODESTA. 199 



Adult. Above, ashy grey, with the lower back, upper tail-coverts and 

 edges of the greater wing-coverts, quills and tail-feathers olive yellow, and 

 with a very faint yellowish shade on the crown ; sides of the head and neck 

 ashy grey ; a circle of white feathers round the eye, margined in front and 

 below with dusky black. Chin white, passing into pale ashy grey on the 

 throat ; breast ashy white shaded with isabelline-brown on the flanks ; 

 under tail-coverts bright yellow. Bill dark brown, with a pale basal half to 

 the lower mandible ; legs reddish brown ; iris light brown. Total length 

 4-1 inches, culmen 0-55, wing 2, tail 1-4, tarsus - 7. Mauritius (Bewsher). 



The Mauritius Olive White-eye is confined to the island 

 of that name. 



Mr. E. Newton writes : " I saw a pair on the hills at 

 St. Martin, and two more pairs very near Souillac. They 

 therefore do not, as I once supposed, remain only on the very 

 high land. The only note I have heard them utter is a 

 short, impatient ' tic-tic' " 



According to Dr. Hartlaub it constructs a strong, warm, 

 cup-shaped nest of fibres bound together with spider's web, 

 which is placed in the fork of a low bush, and usually contains 

 two eggs, of a pale blue colour and roundish in form, 0'65 

 inch by 0*5. 



Zosterops modesta. (PI. 6, fig. 1.) 



Zosterops modesta, E. Newton ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. is. p. 194 (1884) ; 

 Eidgway, Proe. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1895, p. 514 Seychelles; Shelley, 

 B. Afr. I. No. 107 (1896). 



Adult. Above, uniform brown with a very faint olive shade on the lower 

 back ; quills and tail darker brown, with pale olive buff outer edges to the 

 feathers ; a circle of white feathers round the eye and a white band extend- 

 ing forward to the nostril, below which is a black loral mark extending back 

 to the gape ; beneath whitish shaded with pale brown, most strongly so on 

 the sides of the body ; outside of thighs dark brown ; under wing-coverts 

 and inner margins of quills white ; bill dark brown with the base of the 

 lower mandible greyish ; legs dusky grey ; iris light brown. Total length 

 4-4 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2-35, tail 1-7, tarsus 0-7. Seychelles (E. 

 Newton). 



