1888.] HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND, 519 



The plumage of a young bird is similar to that of the adult. 



Length of bill (from the front of the crown) , . 11-5 mm. 



Base of bill to tip of tail . . 4| in. 



Tail 1| in. 



Wing 2f in. 



This Zosterops is, I suppose, the commonest bird on the island. 

 The first note I heard on penetrating through the line of Hibiscus 

 trees into the higher bush at Flying- Fish Cove was a short chirping 

 proceeding from a party of them busy among the leaves and twigs 

 above my head. I soon held one in my hand, and saw by the 

 white ring round the eye that it was a species of Zosterops. I never 

 heard any other note than this. The parties of them included 

 young birds at the time of our visit, so perhaps it was the silent 

 time with them, as some species have quite a melodious song. Two 

 of their nests were found supported on the sides by horizontal 

 branches, to which they were attached by vegetable fibres and the 

 strong yellow web of a large Spider which is common in the bush. 

 They are built of fibres and leaf-skeletons, fastened together with 

 the same yellow material and with the white web of another kind ot 

 Spider, and lined with the black hair-like fringes of the leaf-sheaths 

 of a palm {Didymosperma porphyrocarpd) '. 



The bird is olive-green above, with grey ear-coverts, and white 

 below, the flanks being pale cinnamon. 



The genus Zosterops contains over 90 known species, and almost 

 every year adds new ones to the list. These are distributed over a 

 wide area, from Senegal and the Bight of Benin on the west to the 

 Friendly Islands on the east, and from North China to New Zea- 

 land, Victoria, and Western Australia. A large number of the 

 islands between these limits have their peculiar species, tiie Malay 

 Archipelago being richest, while the continental areas, Africa, India, 

 the eastern part of the Palsearctic Region and Australia are inhabited 

 by a few wide-ranging forms. 



The great majority of the species have the breast alone, or the 

 breast and belly, bright yellow. 



The closest ally of our bird is Z. mysoriensis, Meyer, from the 

 Island of Mysori in Geelvink Bay, New Guinea. From this, how- 

 ever, it diifers in the following points : — 



1. The crown becomes paler towards the base of the tail. 



2. The eye-ring is distinct^. 



3. The lore is black and bordered above with a light streak, while 

 Z. mysoriensis has the lore obscure and not so bordered. 



4. The breast is white in the middle, not grey. 



5. The flanks are brown, not grey, 



■^ Cf. the account of the nest of Z. palpehrosa in Legge's ' Birds of Ceylon 

 p, .584. 



^ The only specimen of Z. mysoriensis that I have seen (in Canon Tristram's 

 collection) appears (but the plumage is rather worn) to have no ring of white 

 feathers round the eye. Salvadori makes no mention of the ring, though 

 especially alluding to it in the allied species Z. fuscifrons and Z. hypokiica. 



