68 PASSERES. 



33. ZOSTEEOPS JAPONICA. 



, (JAPANESE WHITE-EYE.) 



Zosterops j'aponinus, Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, p. 67 

 (1847). 



The Japanese White-eye is easily distinguished from its Chinese 

 ally by the colour of its breast and flanks, which are pale chestnut- 

 brown instead of pale grey. 



Figures : Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, pi. 22. 



The Japanese White-eye is a resident in all the Japanese Islands, 

 and is peculiar to Japan. It is not very common in Yezzo, but was 

 obtained at Hakodadi as long ago as 1853 by the Perry Expedition 

 (Cassin, Exp. Am. Squad. China Seas and Japan, ii. p. 221). There 

 are eight examples in the Pryer collection from Yokohama, and I 

 have two examples collected by Mr. Heywood Jones on Fuji-yama. 

 I have also three examples obtained by Mr. Ringer at Nagasaki. 



The Japanese White-eye is so absolutely intermediate between the 

 species which inhabits South China and that found in North China, 

 that it is impossible to say to which it is most nearly allied. The 

 latter species, Zosterops erythropleura, has once occurred in the valley 

 of the Amoor ; the brown on its underparts is deepened into chestnut 

 and restricted to the flanks. 



The nest of the Japanese White-eye is a beautiful structure com- 

 posed entirely of moss, patched outside with large pieces of lichen, 

 and lined inside with horse-hair. It is rather flat in shape, and is 

 evidently a ground nest (Jouy, Proc. United States Nat. Mus. 1883, 

 p. 288) . Eggs in the Pryer collection are unspotted bluish white, of 

 the dimensions of full-sized Willow- Warbler's eggs. 



SYLVIIN^. 



Sexes generally alike ; young in first plumage (which is retained 

 during the first winter) the same but brighter; first primary very 

 variable, always present, but never as long as the second ; feathering 

 of nostrils very variable. 



There are probably from 300 to 400 species that may be referred 

 to this subfamily, which is nearly cosmopolitan. Fifteen species 

 have occurred in Japan. 



