II 



488 



Birds of Celebes: Zosteropidae. 



Adult. Above with sides of head and neck olive-green, yellower on the nunp and upper 

 tail-covei'ts ; quills black, except on the outer primary and the distal ends of the 

 others; tail black; forehead and region in front of eyes black; orbital ring 

 white; chin and throat greenish ochre-yellow; under tail-coverts ochre-yellow; 

 breast and sides ashy; abdomen and under wing-coverts white; inner edges 

 of quills below pale [(;f, Eurukan, 19. "VTH. 84: Platen in Mus. Nehrkorn, 

 Nr. 960). Iris hght bro-n-n (olive-brown — Wallace i); bill black; feet lead-grey 

 (Platen). 



Female. Answers to the above description, but the feet are "hellgrau" and the chest olive- 

 grey (9, Mus. Berlepsch). 



Measurements (after W. Blasius 13 — fi-om numerous examples of both sexes, and 4 cfc? 

 and 2 Q2 in the Sarasin Coll.). Wing 51— 54.5 nun; tail 35—38.5; cuhuen c. 11; 

 bill fi-om nostril c. 7—8; tarsus c. 15. 



Skeleton. 



26.0 mm 



Length of cranium. . . . 

 Greatest breadth of cranium 

 Length of humerus . . . 



Length of ulna 



Length of radius .... 

 Length of manus .... 

 Length of metacarpus . . 

 Length of digitus principaUs 

 Length of femur .... 

 Length of tibia 



Length of fibula .... 



Length of tarso-metatarsus . 



6.0 mm 



14.0 » 



12.0 » 



13.7 » 

 9.0 . 

 4.0 » 



13.0 » 



14.0 » 



12.8 » 

 16.0 » 



12.0 ■■ 



13.0 » Length of digitus .... 



14.5 » Length of sternum . . . 



14.0 > Greatest breadth of sternum 



13.5 > Height of cri.sta sterni . . 



7.5 » Length of coracoideum . . 



6.0 » Length of scapula .... 



13.5 • Length of clavicula . . . 



21.4 » Length of pelvis .... 



Egg. "The egg sent home by Dr. Platen from E,m-ukan in the Minahassa is like the eggs 

 of all Zosteropidae uniform blue and measures 15 X 12.5 mm" (Nehrkorn MS.). 

 Two eggs obtained by Drs. Sarasin at Tomohon, 16. April, 1894, are rounded ovate 

 in shape and bluish white in colour, having no doubt become bleached after blowing. 



Nest. The Sarasins also obtained two nests of this little bird, one with 3 young ones 

 (Tomohon, 2. May, 1894), the other with the above two eggs. The first is suspended 

 by means of cobweb between the fork of a twig. Both are neat cup-shaped struc- 

 tures, the outer wall formed of moss, then some shi'eds of dead weed-growths, or 

 such like, well hned with long, black, hau-like, vegetable fibres. Diam. internal c. 5 cm, 

 external c. 7 cm, depth c. 3.5 cm. 



Distribution. North Celebes: Mmahassa (Wallace 1, 10, Platen 12,13, etc.); Buol (P. & F. 

 Sarasin 16')\ Gorontalo (Leyden Mus. a 1); Tawaya, W. Celebes (Doherty 18); 

 Lake Posso, Central Celebes (P. & F. S. 17). 



In the IX. volume of the British Museum Catalogue of Birds (1884) Dr. 

 Sharpe described 85 species of the genus Zosterops, and we have had no diffi- 

 culty in finding notice of upwards of 40 new species described in the following 

 ten years, so that this genus now embraces upwards of 125 forms. Zosterops 

 atrifrons belongs to Dr. Sharpe's division "B", in which either the throat or 

 the under tail-coverts are yellow, differing from the breast, and it is one of the 

 following group with black foreheads: 



1. Z. atricapilla Salvad.: Sumatra; 



2. Z. clara Sharpe: Kini Balu, Borneo; 



3. Z. nehrkorni W. Bias.: Great Sangi; 



