Birds in and about (he Slation {Baklok.') 221 
wait for others till autumn if the cock died. He did not die, so 
about 1st May I set the net again and caught ten in under two 
hours and could have caught more. All these and the others 
flying about uncaught had bright chestnut foreheads. In fact 
about this time I saw none that were not coloured in this way. 
In plumage the sexes were indistinguishable, but I found that I 
had five pairs. With the aid of a four-compartment wire cage, 
I separated out two true pairs and let go the rest. I am pretty 
certain that these birds had not then started nesting, though 
there were several nests lower in the station. 
" I left the station to go further up the hill, where there 
are no White-eyes, on 26tli May; by that time I noticed my 
White-eyes were losing their chestnut. I returned on 6lh June. 
Mine had lost all colour and the wild ones I saw had lost theirs, 
but Major Sealy told me that he had latel}' .seen some " coloured " 
ones about. I went up the hill again on the 8th June returning 
on the 20th June. I made a special search for coloured ones 
without success. A few days later Mr. Kennedy showed me a 
nest with young in his compound; we watched the old birds 
feeding the young from a very short distance. They were 
normally coloured. 
" My five are as fit and as happy as their wild relations, 
but they remain common or garden Indian White-eyes {Zoslerops 
palpebrosd) and charming as they are, of no special interest to 
anyone but myself. Still I have hopes that they will attempt 
breeding next year. 
" Of course I know that to make a good record one ought 
to kill and send down a skin. I plead laziness with a dash ot 
sentiment. I make the record, such as it is, as several things 
strike me as curious about it. The l)ird is a very common one ; 
why has such a change not been recorded before ? I believe it 
has not been recorded. How was it that I noticed it in 1901 and 
then not again till 1909? I certainly did not keep a special look 
out for it, but the chestnut is very noticeable and I set to work to 
catch my 1901 bird on that account. Both sexes tlon the chest- 
nut, but keep it such a short time. Men (and women) have been 
known to drop fine raiment soon after matrimony. Can one 
apply a similar reasoning? Is it a species in the making?" 
(To be co7iiiniicd.J 
