White-Eyes, Sugar-Birds, and Tanagers. 27 



Chapter V. 



WHITE-EYES, SUGAR-BIRDS, AND TANAGERS 



(Family Zosteropidce). 



White-Eyes or Spectacle-Birds (Zosterops). 



The bill of the female appears to me to be noticeably longer and 

 with slightly less arched culmen (ridge) than that of the male. The 

 two species most frequently imported are : — 



The Grey-backed Spectacle-Bird (Zosterops dorsalis). 



The plumage of the sexes is said not to differ, but I suspect that 

 a careful examination will prove the cock to be brighter in colouring 

 than the hen. 



The Chinese Spectacle-Bird (Zosterops simplex). 



No difference of plumage is recorded ; but I easily recognised the 

 male of my own pair by the brighter yellow of the under surface. 

 Of course, this may vary in individuals, but I should expect a 

 brightly-coloured bird to be a cock. 



Sugar- Birds (Ccerebidce). 



Tn the genus Ccereba, the bill viewed in profile is a little broader 

 in the female than in the male, but I can discover no other 

 difference. 



Yellow-winged Sugar-Bird (Ccereba cyanea). 



The sexes are entirely different, the male being of a delicious 

 ultramarine blue, the crown pale blue, with the lores, throat, wings, 

 tail, and under wing-coverts intense velvety black. The female is 

 dark green above, pale yellowish streaked with green below ; the 

 lores and throat reddish ; the bill blackish, the feet brown. 



In the genus Dacnis the cock is larger than the hen, and his bill 

 is distinctly longer. 



Blue Sugar-Bird (Dacnis cayana). 



Here, again, the adult sexes are quite dissimilar ; the male blue 

 and black, the female emerald green with pale pearly lavender 

 throat and bluish crown. 



Tanagers (Tanagridce). 



These birds, although they vary greatly in character and colouring, 

 are all characterised by the possession of a well-defined terminal 

 tooth to the upper mandible, to enable them easily to pierce the skin 



