484 
Birds of Celebes: Zosteropidae. 
ing and peculiar forms, not to be found on the coast, and the work of ex- 
ploring these hills does not yet appear to be even half done. 
FAMILY ZOSTEROPIDAE. 
It appears best to make a family of the gi-eat genus of the White-eyes, 
Zosterops, some 125 species of small birds which have been placed by Gadow 
among the Meliphagidae as a subfamily, by Oates among the Crateropodidae, by 
others (fide Newton) among the Paridae, and by others with the Nectanniidae, 
which is enough to show how uncertain their affinities are. One of Mr. Everett’s 
recent discoveries in Celebes, Zosterops squamiceps (Hart.), looks as if it has 
affinities with the Meliphagidae. Yuhina among the Crateropodidae, and Anthreptes 
among the Nectariniidae also call for comparison. 
The Zosteropidae have only nine primaries, or a very minute tenth. The 
muscles of the tongue resemble those of Nectarinia, with some differences; the 
tongue itself ends in two short filaments, and has not a brush-tip (Gadow, 
P. Z. S. 1883, 63, 68). A striking characteristic in almost all the species is a 
ring of minute white feathers round the eye — whence the name, White-eye. 
Olive, yellow, and grey are the chief coloxrrs; red and blue are not found. 
Zosterops, separated as a family by Sharpe, is widely distributed in Africa 
south of the Sahara, Asia south of the Himalayas and Amoor, the islands of the 
Indian Ocean, the East Indies to Australia, the western islands of the Pacific, 
south to Nexv Zealand and the Chatham Islands. These birds have almost 
certainly spread their range by flight, a case of which has taken place within the 
memory of man (Buller, B. N. Zeal. 2"'^ ed. 1888, I, pp. 79 — 81). 
There seems to be no explanation but that of distribution by flight for the 
presence of closely allied forms in, for instance, North Celebes and Liberia, 
or on many islands of Polynesia, which are of volcanic or coral origin, and 
where animals which cannot fly or otherwise make sea-voyages, such as the 
larger mammals, are unknown. 
GENUS ZOSTEROPS Vig. Horsf. 
Culmen about as long as the head, or less, slightly decurved, keel of lower 
mandible approximately straight; nostril linear, with an operculum basally 
feathered; a periocular ring of minute white feathers usually present; tail square, 
shorter than wing; first primary very minute or wanting, the next as long as 
the secondaries or longer, tip of wing formed by the next four feathers; tarsus 
longer than middle toe and claw; 4*'' toe united with 3”^ to the first joint of 
the latter. See, also, supra, Zosteropidae. 
