23 



of the nest ; and anotliei' wliicli was obtained from tlie low brush-wood bor- 

 dering on the sea shore was built of sheep's wool, spiders' nests, pellets of cow- ' 

 hair, and fine seaweed, firmly bound together with long thread-like fibres, 

 apparently the rootlets of some aquatic plant, and lined internally with fine 

 grass bents and soft feathers. Sometimes the nest is constructed wholly of 

 bents and dry grass. 



Adult. — Crown, sides of the head, nape, tipper surface of wings, uroj^ygium 

 and upper tail coverts bright yellowish olive ; back and scapularies cinereous 

 tinged with green ; eyes surrounded by a narrow circlet of silvery white 

 feathers, with a line of black in front and below. Throat, foreneck, and breast 

 greyish white, tinged more or less with yellow towards the angle of the lower 

 mandible ; abdomen and under tail coverts fulvous white ; sides pale chocolate 

 brown. Quills and tail feathers dusky brown, margined with yellowish olive ; 

 lining of witigs white, the edges tinged with yellow. Bill dark brown ; under 

 mandible whitish at the base. Irides, tarsi, and toes light brown. 



Length 5 inches ; extent of wings 7|^ ; wing from flexure 2|^ ; tail 2 ; 

 tarstis f ; middle toe and claw 9-1 6ths ; hind toe and claw ^ ; bill along the 

 ridge f , along the edge of lower mandible ^. 



Young. — A young bird of this species brotight to me on the 28th Decem- 

 ber had the colours paler than in the adult ; the throat and breast pale cinereous 

 grey ; sides fulvous brown ; the white eye circlet absent, the orbits being still 

 destitute of feathers ; tarsi and toes light flesh colour ; bill pale brown ; 

 rictal membrane yellow.* 



The characters given above as diagnostic of the genus Zosterops (Vigors 

 and Horsfield) are taken from Gray's Genera of Birds. I have discovered, 

 however, that the present species is in some respects aberrant from the type, 

 and that Mr. Gray's generic characters are not sufiiciently comj)rehensive. 



The typical Zosterops has the wing moderate, the first quill very smcdl and 

 the fourth and fifth equal and longest ; whereas the species under consideration 

 has the wings long and pointed, the first quill only one-sixteenth of an inch 

 shorter than the second, which is equal to the third, the fourth being scarcely 

 shorter and the rest rapidly graduated. Moreover, the bill which is slightly 

 cttrved in the typical species, is straight and acuminate in Zosterops lateralis. 



These modifications of form, which will be at once apparent on reference 

 to the accompanying figtires (Plate III.), may, I think, be considered of 

 sub-generic importance. At any rate, the peculiar adaptation of the wing in 

 our bird to its migratory habits of life is deserving of special notice. 



* Since the above paper was written, Archdeacon Stock, who, as the author well 

 remembers, took a lively interest in the Zosterops on its first aiTival in 1856, has 

 furnished the following interesting note: — "I saw on Friday last, November 11, at 

 Wilkinson's tea gardens (Wellington), what appeared to be a new variety of the Blight 

 Bird. The white circle around the eye was not so distinct ; and the head and throat 

 were orange coloured." 



