140 CBATEEOPODIDJE. 



226. Zosterops palpebrosa (Temm.). The Indian J ¥Tiite-eye. 



Zosterops palpebrosus {Temm.), Jerd. B. 2nd. ii, p. 265; Hume, 

 Hough Draft N. fy E. no. 631. 



The Indian White-eye, or White-eyed Tit as Jerdon terms it, 

 breeds almost throughout the Indian Empire, sparingly in the 

 hotter and more arid plains, abundantly in the Nilghiris and other 

 ranges of the Peninsula to their very summits, and in the Hima- 

 layas to an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet. 



The breeding-season extends in different localities from January 

 to September, but I think that everywhere April is the month in 

 which most eggs are to be met with. 



Sometimes they have two broods ; whether this is always the 

 case I do not know. 



The nest is placed almost indifferently at any elevation. I have 

 taken one from amongst the topmost twigs of a huge mohwa tree 

 (Bassia latifolia) fully 60 feet high, and I have found them in a 

 tiny bush not a foot off the soil. Still I think that perhaps the 

 majority build at low elevations, say between 2 and 6 feet from 

 the ground. 



The nest is always a soft, delicate little cup, sometimes very 

 shallow, sometimes very deep, as a rule suspended between two 

 twigs like a miniature Oriole's nest, but on rare occasions propped 

 in a fork. The nest varies much in size and in the materials with 

 which it is composed. 



Fine grass and roots, tow, and a variety of vegetable fibres, 

 thread, floss silk, and cobwebs are all made use of to bind the little 

 nest together and attach it to the twigs whence it depends. Grass 

 again, moss, vegetable fibre, seed-down, silk, cotton, lichen, roots 

 and the like are used in the body of the nest, which is lined with 

 silky down, hair, moss, and fern^roots, or even silk, while at times 

 tiny silvery cocoons or scraps of rich-coloured lichen are affixed as 

 ornaments to the exterior. 



One nest before me is a very perfect and deep cup, hung 

 between two twigs of a mohwa tree and almost entirely hidden by 

 the surrounding leaves. The exterior diameter of the nest is 2| 

 inches, and the depth 2 inches. The egg-cavity measures scarcely 

 more than lg inch across and very nearly as much in depth. It is 

 composed of very fine grass-stems and is thinly coated exteriorly 

 with cobwebs, by which also it is firmly secured to the suspending 

 twigs, and externally numerous small cocoons and sundry pieces 

 of vegetable down are plastered on to the nest. Another nest, 

 hung between two slender twigs of a mango tree, is a shallow cup 

 some 2| inches in diameter, and not above an inch in depth 

 externally. The egg-cavity measures at most 1| inch across by 

 three-fourths of an inch in depth. The nest is composed of fine 

 tow-like vegetable fibres and thread, by which it is attached to the 

 twigs, a little grass-down being blended in the mass, and the cavity 

 being very sparsely lined with very fine grass-stems. In another 



