GREEN-BACKED WHITE-EYE. 
Adult male. General colour of tlie upper-surface dull yellowish-green, including the top 
of the head, nape, sides of face, sides of neck, hind-neck, back, rump, upper tail- 
coverts, scapulars, inner upper wing-coverts, and outer margins of secondary-quills ; 
marginal upper wing-coverts, bastard-wing, and primary-coverts more or less inter¬ 
mixed with cinnamon-rufous ; outer w T ebs of primary-quills minutely edged with 
pale yellowish-green, the inner-webs cinnamon-rufous margined with white on 
the basal portion, becoming uniform hair-brown towards the tips ; tail hair-brown 
with yellowish-green margins to the feathers on the outer webs and obsolete cross¬ 
bars ; loros and a portion of the eye-ring black ; chin, throat and under tail-coverts 
lemon-yellow ; breast and sides of breast pale grey becoming whitish on the middle 
of the abdomen and tinged with cinnamon on the sides of the body ; thighs dusky ; 
axillaries, under wing-coverts, and margins of quills below whitish tinged with 
cinnamon; under-surface of flight-quills dark greyish-brown ; lower aspect of tail 
similar but paler. Bill pale horn, culmen darker, eyes brown, feet pale greyish- 
horn. Total length 120 mm. ; culmen 8, wing 57, tail 46, tarsus 17. Figured. 
Collected in the Stirling Ranges, South-west Australia, on the 26th of September, 
1910. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
Adult female . General colour of the upper-surface olive-green, including the top of the 
head, sides of face, sides of neck, hind-neck, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, 
scapulars, upper wing-coverts, and outer aspect of flight-quills; remainder of flight- 
quills hair-brown fringed with white on the inner margins ; tail also hair-brown 
narrowly fringed with whitish on the inner-webs ; eye-ring white edged with black 
on the frontal portion ; chin and throat lemon-yellow ; breast and sides of body 
vinous-grey ; abdomen cream-white ; under tail-coverts lemon-yellow ; axillaries 
and under wing-coverts white like the inner edges of the quills below, remainder 
of quill-lining hair-brown ; lower aspect of tail similar but rather paler. Eyes 
dark brown, feet horn, bill horn, with culmen darker. Total length 111 mm. ; 
culmen 8, wing 57, tail 45, tarsus 16. Collected in the Stirling Ranges, South-west 
Australia, on the 20th of October, 1910. 
Breeding birds “ have grey flanks and yellow thighs.” (Whitlock.) 
Eggs. Two to four for a clutch. A clutch of three taken on Dirk Hartog Island, Western 
Australia, on the 23rd of July, 1920, is of a light bluish-green, and lighter than 
those of the common Zosterops lateralis. Swollen ovals in shape ; surface of shell 
smooth, but almost devoid of gloss. 13-14 mm. by 10. 
Nest. A small cup-shaped structure, very closely resembling that built by Zosterops 
lateralis , and placed in a small bush, sometimes within three feet of the ground. 
Breeding-months. August to December. 
In the Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., nouv. ed., Vol. XL, p. 235, June 21st, 
1817, Vieillot described: “ Le Pouillot de l’Australasie, Sylvia australasice 
VieilL, est d’un vert-olive tirant au jaune sur la tete ; de cette derniere couleur 
sur le bord du front, la gorge et le devant du cou ; blanc sur les parties 
posterieures ; noiratre sur les pennes des ailes et de la queue, dont les bords 
sont d’un vert-jaune ; le bee brun ; les pieds couleur de chair rembrunie. 
Taille du pouillot fitis 
This description, which appears hitherto to have been overlooked, is a 
good one of the West Australian Zosterops , which has long been known as 
157 
