198 
The Breeding of African White- eyes. 
Zosterops, but his were the Indian species and mine are the 
African. 
I purchased the birds in 1914, and by the merest 
fluke imaginal)le they turned out to be a true pair, and, what 
is of infinitely greater importance a breeding- pair; only 
tho-iC! who have kept a great many birds can possibly realise 
the ti-ue value of that expression. You may have six or eight 
pail's of birds in an aviary, all true pairs, in grand health 
and feather, and yet only one may be a breeding pair. That 
has been my experience repeatedly, b'o if you get a breeding 
pair of birds stick to them and don't break it up if you 
can possibly avoid it. 
The White-eye is quite a familiar bird, very much 
the size and colour of our English Chiff-chaff. Its charac- 
teristic feature is the eye Avith a very distinct white rim 
round it. Of all the lovable little birds, with the disposition 
of the proverbial (but not actual!) Dove, commend me to Zos- 
terops. They have absolutely no bad points. They are gentle, 
fcarlcs. untiringly energetic, model parents, and very fairly 
hardy if not quite. No wondci: I Love my White-eyes, and, feel 
very pleaded to think I have fully reared two babies from 
two different nests, and now, am well on the road to rearing 
a third. 
The first attempt at nesting this season, occurred at the 
very beginning of Api-il in the bird-room. I took the risk 
and turned them out into my Grassfinches' aviary. It is not 
for mc to praise my own, but it really is a nice aviaiy and 
for .summer very nearly ideal. There is an abundance of 
cover and nearly always a wealth of bloom. My White-eyes 
simply revel in it. They very quickly settled down and by 
April 17th the first nest was completed and the first egg laid 
the nex* day. The nest in its pristine freshness wa«s a marvel 
of architecture — completely spherical, almost 1% inches in di- 
ameter at the mouth and 2 inches deep. It w;j.,s a cradle nest 
and the two subsequent nests have been the .•^ame. The nest 
was built of bast (raffia), fine grass, and tow. It was lined 
with horse hair but no feathers or hair. I am sending the nest 
to our Hon. Editor, to be photographed. It was built in an 
Aucuba, the leaves of which are now completely withered, as 
I cut the nest out of the tree. Both birds built the nest. In 
