21 



synonyme of the same species. The last named writer informs lis that " this 

 bird is stationary in all parts of Tasmania, New South Wales, and South 

 Australia, whei'e it is not only to be met with in the forests and thickets, but 

 also in nearly every gai-den." Dr. Finsch, of Bremen, to whom specimens of 

 the New Zealand bird were forwarded by Dr. Haast, pronounced it Zosterojfs 

 lateralis, Lath. ; while Mr. Waterhonse, of the South Australian Museiim, to 

 whom Dr. Hector forwarded examples for examination, considers it distinct 

 from the Australian species "although miuch resembling it." 



The natives distinguish the bird as Tau-hou (which means " a stranger "), 

 or Kanohi-mowhiti, which may be interpreted spectacle-eye or ring-eye. It is 

 also called Poporohe and Iringatan, names suggested by its accidental or 

 periodical occurrence . 



By the settlers it has been variously designated as Ring-eye, Wax-eye, 

 White-eye or Silver-eye, in allusion to the beautiful circlet of satiny-white 

 feathers which surrounds the eyes ; and quite as commonly the " Blight Bird," 

 or " Winter-migrant." 



I have frequently watched the habits of this little bird, and with much 

 interest. As already stated it is gregarious, flying and consorting in flocks, 

 except in the breeding season, when they are to be observed singly or in pairs. 

 As soon as a flock of them alights on a ti-ee, or clump of brush-wood, they 

 immediately disperse in quest of food ; and on a cautious approach, may be 

 seen prosecuting a very diligent search among the leaves and flowers, and in 

 the crevices of the bark, for the small insects and aphides on which they 

 principally subsist. I have opened many specimens, at all seasons, and I have 

 invariably found their stomachs crammed with minute insects and their larvse. 

 Tn some I have found the large pulpy scale insect [Coccus sp.), of a dull green 

 colour, which is commonly found adhering to the leaves of the ramarama 

 {Myrtus hullata) ; also small caterpillars, grasshoppers, and coleoptera, and 

 occasionally the small fruity seeds of Rzihus australis and other native plants. 

 In our orchards and gardens it regales itself freely on plums, cherries, 

 figs, gooseberries, and other soft fruits, but it far more than compensates for 

 this petty pilfering, by the wholesale war it carries on against the various 

 species of insects that afilict our fruit trees and vegetables. It feeds on that 

 disgusting little aphis known as American Blight, which so rapidly covers 

 with a fatal cloak of white the stems and branches of our best apjile trees ; it 

 cleai's our early cabbages of a pestilent little insect that, left unchecked, would 

 utterly destroy the crop ; it visits our gardens and devours another swarming 

 parasite that covers our roses and other flowering plants ; to say nothing of its 

 general services as an insectivorous bird. Surely in return for these important 

 benefits, to both orchard and garden, the flocks of Zoster ops may justly be held 

 entitled to an occasional feed of cherries, or to a small tithe of the ripe fruits 

 which they have done so much to defend and cherish ! 



