on the Breeding of the African White-Eye.



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as we look we notice a little creature nearly as small as our

Siskin, as active as an ant, searching every nook and cranny, now

hanging head down, now upside down, jumping, flitting, perching,

flying, calling, singing, catching, prying, and everything so quickly

that before you realise it is a bird you are looking at, it is gone or

perhaps another has joined it. This is my little friend Zosterops

viridis. He has made a long, long journey to make me happy, and

I, in my turn, must endeavour to do to him as he has done to me.

That is why I give him (and her too, for I have a pair of them) plenty

of space, and a famous old plum tree that once disfigured the back of

my house and harboured countless hordes of insects. I allowed to

throw out the long shoots, and then adveniente autunmno ” the

axe was laid to the root and the tree planted bodily in the aviary.

An Evangeline rose now rambles over and lingers on the new stems

that gave such promise for the forthcoming year.


Most of us know the Zosterops. That sweet, quaint little

bird, full of life and activity, with its complete costume of yellowish

green—self-colour the salesman would call it—and that character¬

istic white ring round the eye, which gives the bird the scientific

name of Zosterops. I believe the derivation is Greek and means a

girdle or circlet about the eye. In Africa it is sometimes called the

11 Spectacle Bird ” or “ White-eye.” The eye is of course black, or

apparently so, and it is only the palpebrae that are white. Still

“white-eyes” is good enough and reminds one very pleasantly of

“ Goldie Locks ” and other charming personages of our childhood’s

days. We notice our Zosterops has a small body with fine delicate

legs, a sharp-pointed beak—obviously designed for getting into

crevices—an eye which nothing escapes, and a fearlessness which we

look for in an insectivorous bird, but seldom find in the average

hardbill. Softbills trust in man and will learn to seek his aid in

rearing their young, but with hardbills we have no part or lot in the

matter.


I obtained my Zosterops early in 1914, and by the merest

chance they turned out to be a true pair. The sex is one quite easy

to tell in an aviary. The cock is, as Dr. Butler points out, much

more snake-like and somewhat lighter in colour. He is also I found

out less unselfish. I can tell my birds instantly, even when only



