142 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on [Ibis, 



V. — A note on some Omental Zosteropidce, and descriptions of 

 new Sahspeeies. By E. C. Stuart Baker, M.B.O.U. 



The genus Zosterops is one which it is extremely difficult to 

 place. It has external and superficial characters which would 

 seem to ally it with many other families, but these are 

 accompanied by so many other contradictory characters, — at 

 leastj in so far as our Oriental species are concerned, — that it 

 appears advisable to place the genus in a family by itself. 



In the Oriental species of Zosterops the bill is slender and 

 small, about half the length of the head ; the culmen is curved 

 throughout its length, the edges of the commissure smooth, 

 and the nostrils are covered with a large membrane; the 

 tarsi are fairly strong and stout but not adapted for terres- 

 trial habits ; the tongue is protractile and furnished with 

 two brushes of curiously stiff, horny fibres. 



The wing is long, the first primary very minute but always 

 visible with a glass. The tail is short and square, varying in 

 comparative length in different species. 



The genus in its entirety is represented by a large number 

 of species in Australia, Asia, and Africa, in tropical regions, 

 and the species and subspc^cies so run into one another that it 

 is extremely difficult to decide what status many of the 

 forms should bear to each other. Much remains still to be 

 done in this respect, and the following is merely an attempt 

 to define the forms found in the Indian Empire or immedi- 

 ately connected therewith. 



There seem to be four species which may be discriminated 

 fairly easily, subspecies of these being found breeding in the 

 same area. These four appear to me to be : — 



1. Zosterops palpehrosa. 



2. Zosterops ceylonensis. 



3. Zosterops aureiventer. 



4. Zosterops siamensis. 



The breeding areas of these overlap as follows. 1 and 2 

 breed together in the lower ranges of the ( 'eylon mountains. 



