SUN-BIRDS TITS WHITE- E YES. 367 



and Mr. Eugene Gates has shown that the bill is serrated for the terminal 

 third of both mandibles. They build pensile-like nests, made of fine 

 grass or rootlets, and generally with a kind of hood, 

 made of fine grass, above the entrance. The nest 

 is usually attached to the end of a branch, but is 

 sometimes found on the under-side of a broad leaf, 

 such as that of a plantain. 



The flower-peckers are small birds, allied to the 

 sun-birds, but differing in their shorter bills, both 

 mandibles being serrated along 

 their cutting- edges. Their plum- The 



age is mostly brilliant, and they are Flower-peckers, 

 found in the Indian and Malayan Family 

 regions and throughout the Moluc- Diceidce. 

 cas, New Guinea and Australia. 

 Their food consists of insects and small berries, and 

 Fig. 106. THE MALACHITE they are remarkable for the beauty of their nests, 

 ,, T , Su . N : B D , which are purse-like, made of the cotton from 



(Nectannia famosa). , r I .111 1 



plants, fine grass and vegetable-down, the nests 



being suspended from the end of a twig, often at a great height from the 

 ground. The two principal genera of the flower-peckers are Dicceum and 

 Prionochilus. 



The white-eyes are found in Africa, the Mascarene islands, throughout 

 India and Ceylon, to the Burmese provinces, China and Japan, and again 

 throughout the whole of the Malayan region to Australia 

 and Polynesia. They are nearly all birds of the same The White-eyes, 

 pattern of coloration, green or yellowish - green above, Family 

 mostly with a yellow forehead, sometimes with a black one, Zosteropidce. 

 while the majority of species are yellow below, or white with 

 yellow throats. The name of "white-eye" is given to the Zosteropidce, on 

 account of a white ring of feathers which encircles the eye, and not because 

 the eye itself is white. They feed upon small insects, which they seek for 

 among the trees ; and Mr. Gates says that the Indian species are generally 

 seen in flocks, and utter a constant twitter as they search for food. The 

 nest is cup-shaped, very neatly and delicately made of vegetable fibres 

 or fine grass, moss or wool. The eggs are blue, and two or three in 

 number 



The tits are a numerous family, most strongly represented in the northern 

 parts of the Old and New Worlds, reaching in the latter to Central America, 

 and in the former occurring throughout Europe, Africa, and 

 Asia, but being absent from the Australian region. They The Tits. 

 have stout and conical bills, and have the nostrils covered Family 



with bristles, and strongly scutellated tarsi, which have Paridce. 

 suggested to some ornithologists their affinity to the crows 

 (Corvidce). There is, however, in our opinion, no relationship between these 

 families, for the nesting habits of the two are entirely different, and the 

 character of the eggs suggests no possible connection. The tits are all small 

 birds, assembling in flocks and family parties in winter, when they associate 

 with creepers, nut-hatches, and other small birds, in traversing the woods in 

 search of insect food. The genera of tits are not many, and they are mostly 

 represented in the avi-fauna of Europe. Thus Pants contains our great tit 

 (P. major) and blue tit (P. cceruleus), Pcecile, the marsh tit (P. palustris) and 



