FLOWER-PECKERS. 



63 



1898, when my bird sang a clear Cicada-like trill, not 

 unlike the performance of our Grasshopper Warbler, 

 but less prolonged. 



JAPANESE WHITE-EYE (Zv*ti'rj,.< ja/mnica). . 



Nearly related to the preceding species, but with the 

 breast and flanks pale chestnut- brown instead of pale 

 smoky grey. Hab., Japan only. 



Seebohm ("Birds of the Japanese Empire," p. 68) 

 says: "The Japanese White-Eye is a resident in all 

 the Japanese Islands, and is peculiar to Japan. It is 

 not very common in Yezzo, but was obtained at Hako- 

 dadi as long ago as 1853." 



" The nest of the Japanese White-Eye is a beautiful 

 .st nicture composed entirely of moss, patched outbade 

 with large pieces of lichen, and lined inside with horse- 

 hair. It is rather flat in shape, and is evidently a 

 ground nest." (Jouy, Proc. United States Nat. Mus. 

 1883, p. 288. ) Eggs in the Pryer collection are un- 

 spotted bluish white, of the dimensions of full-sized 

 Willow- Warbler's eggs. 



According to Russ, Miss Hagenbeck imported a single 

 example of this .species ; then a pair reached the Berlin 

 Zoological Gardens in 1892 ; later in 1895 G. Bosz of 

 Cologne imported a great number into the trade. He 

 adds the following notes of interest to the general 

 reader : " Professor Dr. Brauns of Tokio says that the 

 species may be found at all times in Central Japan, and 

 as a migrant it associates especially with the swarms 

 of different kinds of Titmice. This also Blakiston and 

 Pryer had maintained, as they had noticed the species 

 as a common bird in winter in the plains. " It sings," 

 writes Dr. Brauns, " if not very loud, yet charmingly, 

 and in the home is accounted one of the best and most 

 perfectly tameable household companions. Xaturally 

 its upkeep requires animal matter as food, but one can 

 buy this almost anywhere in Japan as a prepared 

 mixture. The latter, I am told, is prepared mainly from 

 crayfish which are not eaten here and perhaps it is as 

 near as one can get to an insectivorous food-mixture. 

 This Spectacle-bird consequently is one of the most 

 abundant cage-birds, continually offered for sale in all 

 shops, although it is not yet one of the most admired 

 of birds." 



It seems hardly likely that crayfish would form the 

 basis of a mixture for insectivorous birds ; but what 

 other translation one can give to the term " river-crabs " 

 I don't know. It is far more likely that the mixture 

 consisted largely of the so-called water-boatmen to which 

 the fancy name of "dried flies" has been given by bird- 

 caterers. 



CAPE WHITE-EYE (Zosterops capensis). 



Above olive-green, yellowish on rump and upper tail- 

 coverts ; flights and tail-feathers brown, washed 

 externally with olive ; forehead olivaceous yellow ; lores 

 black ; the visual white ring of feathers round eye ; ear- 

 coverts and skies of face green ; cheekc and throat 

 bright yellow, changing to pale brown on breast and 

 abdomen; sides greyish, flanks fulvescent; under tail- 

 coverts bright yellow ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 yellowish white; bill and feet bluish-grey, the meta- 

 tarsus yellowish ; iris brownish-yellow. Female said to 

 resemble the male, probably a trifle paler and with more 

 slender bill. Hab., South Africa. 



I take the following notes on the habits of this bird 

 from Stark and Sclater's " Birds of South Africa," 

 Vol. I., p. 303: "The common White-Eye, when not 

 breeding, is invariably in small family parties, consist- 

 ing of the parent-birds and the young of the preceding 

 season, or frequently, of several family parties conjoined. 

 They generally attract attention by the somewhat sharp 



' chirp ' that every individual bird constantly utters 

 both while feeding and when flying from tree to tree. 

 They are, as a rule, extremely tame, feeding undisturbed 

 within a few feet of an observer, diligently hunting over 

 the leaves and twigs, and peering into the blossoms in 

 search of small larvae and insects, and especially of some 

 of the scale- in sects (Schizoneurce). At certain seasons 

 they feed to a considerable extent on soft fruits, apricots, 

 plums, and especially blackberries ; they are fond, too, 

 of the saccharine juices of many flowers, and, in the 

 Municipal Gardens at Cape Town, constantly resort to 

 various favourite shrubs, notably the Australian ' Bottle- 

 brush,' for the sake of the nectar of the blossoms. From 

 constantly probing the corollas of flowers, the feathers 

 of the head are nearly always more or less dusted over 

 with pollen, and these little birds, like the Sunbirds, 

 must play a considerable part in the cross-fertilization or 

 many plants. 



" The nest tis buidt among the smaller twigs at the 

 extremity of a horizontal branch of a bush or low tree. 

 It is very small, of a shallow cup-shape, and is neatly 

 constructed of fine tendrils and moss, glued together 

 with cobweb and frequently decorated on the outside 

 with pieces of grey lichen. The interior is lined with 

 hair. The eggs, four or five in number, are unspotted 

 pale blue. They measure 0.66 x 0.50. 



" Both parents incubate the eggs, which are hatched 

 at the end of ten days. The nestlings are fed on soft 

 larvae, smaJl caterpillars and the .saccharine juices of 

 flowers by both male and female.'' 



Dr. Russ says that BO far as he knows this species 

 has only once been imported, three examples having 

 reached Europe towards the beginning of 1880 ; he does 

 not .seem to know what became of them. Of course 

 there is no more reason why it should not foe freely 

 imported like the Chinese- and Australian species, and 

 doubtless one of these days some enterprising dealer 

 will 'bring home a. number. 



YELLOW WHITE-EYE (Zosterops ftavd). 



Greenish yellow, forehead and upper tail-coverts 

 bright yellow ; flights and tail-feathers blackish-brown 

 with yellow margins ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 white or yellowish ; 'body below yellow ; sides of breast 

 somewhat dingy; bill blackish"; feet lead-coloured; 

 irides brown. Female similar, ibut probably slightly 

 paler and with more slender 'bill. Hab., Sumatra, Java 

 and Borneo. 



Dr. Russ regrets that he has been unable to discover 

 any notes on the wild life of this bird ; and unfor- 

 tunately I have had no 'better luck, but there is a gre it 

 sameness in the wild life of all the species, as will be 

 seen by comparing the accounts of the preceding forms. 



In February, 1877, Ch. Jamrach imported thirteen 

 examples of the Yellow White-Eye into the London 

 market, of which a pair was forwa.rded to Dr. Russ, 

 but arrived dead, but nevertheless were useful in estab- 

 lishing the species ; he regrets that he is unable to 

 say what became of the remaining examples, and since 

 that time no more have been imported to his know- 

 ledge, yet there is no reason why they should not 

 again appear in the market. 



FLOWER=PECKERS (Dicaid,?). 



To this family the genus Pardalotus has been referred 

 by Dr. Sharpe ; but Prof. Newton thinks tha't, if 

 rightly placed here, the name of the family ought to 

 be changed on the ground that Pardalotus antedates 

 J)'u-,i inn. I am afraid, if this rule were stringently 

 followed, the names of many families in the various 

 classes of animals would have to be altered. Although 

 Prof. Xewton says that the Diamond-birds (Australian 



