THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
upper mandible and tip of lower black, lower base greyish-black; legs bluish- 
grey. Figured. Collected on Cairncross Island, North Queensland, on the 20th 
of July, 1911. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface yellowish-green, including the top of 
the head, sides of face, sides of neck, hind-neck, back, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, 
upper wing-coverts and outer aspect of the flight-quills; inner webs of the last hair- 
brown with white margins ; tail pale hair-brown fringed with yellowish-green on 
the outer webs ; base of fore-head orange-yellow ; lores blackish; eye-ring white; 
chin, throat, and fore-neck pale yellow ; breast, sides of breast, and sides of body 
pale grey ; abdomen and thighs white ; under tail-coverts pale yellow ; axillaries, 
under wing-coverts, and inner margins of quills below white, remainder of quill¬ 
lining dark hair-brown; lower aspect of tail similar but somewhat paler. Eyes 
silvery-brown, upper mandible and tip of lower black, lower base greyish-black; 
legs bluish-grey. Total length 120 mm. ; culmen 10. wing 58, tail 41, tarsus 18. 
Collected at Cairncross Island, North Queensland, and is the type of Z. a. cairncrossi 
Eggs. Two to four for a clutch. A clutch of four eggs taken at Cape York, North 
Queensland, on the 22nd of December, 1909, is of a pale bluish-green. Rounded 
ovals in shape, surface of shell smooth, and almost quite free of gloss. 16-17 
mm. by 13. 
Nest. Very similar in structure to that of Zoster ops lateralis. 
Breeding-months. September to January. 
This very distinct species was first figured in the Atlas of the Voyage Pole 
Sud and upon the figure Reichenbacli based his Zosterops albiventris , Pucheran 
publishing the official account of the Voyage the following year. Twenty 
years afterward Masters described as a new species Zosterops flavoguhris, 
and though he recorded half a dozen islands he gave no field-notes. 
The only other ornithologist to meet with this bird appears to be 
Macgillivray, who has written : “A pair of these birds was secured on Cairncross 
Island. They were numerous there, and also on Wednesday Island, York Island, 
Damley, and other of the Torres Strait Islands. When at anchor off York 
Island the singing of these birds seemed to come from some hundred of throats. 
Stomach contents, fruit juices and insects.” He later added : “ The type 
of the Pale-bellied White-eye came from Warrior Island in Torres Strait. 
We first noted it, and obtained two specimens on the Forbes Group. Both 
were females, and the stomach contents were insects and berries. There 
were many of these birds on Haggerstone Island, where they were busily 
engaged feeding amongst the branches of several flowering trees. Two nests 
were found, one just started, the other ready for occupation. This species 
is never found on the mainland, preferring the scrubs on islands off the 
coast.” 
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