ZOSTEEOPS. 
233 
A pair in the Macleayan Museum Collection, taken on the 
Endeavour River, Queensland, give the following measurements: — 
length (A) 07 x 0 - 43 inch ; (B) 0'67 x 0'43 inch. 
Hab. Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, South Coast 
New Guinea. (Ramsay.) 
Sub-Family ZOSTEROPINzE. 
Genus ZOSTEEOPS, Vigors and Horsjidd. 
ZOSTEEOPS CiERULESCENS, Latham. 
Grey-backed Zosterops. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust, Vol. i., sp. 360, p. 587. 
This bird is universally dispersed over the eastern and southern 
portions of the continent of Australia, and the whole of Tasmania, 
A nest of this species in the Australian Museum Collection, taken 
at Dobroyde in September 1860, is a round cup-shaped structure, 
outwardly composed of bark fibre, dried grasses, and mosses, 
and neatly lined inside with fine fibrous roots and grasses ; 
it measures exteriorly three inches in diameter, by one inch 
and three-quarters in depth; internal diameter two inches, 
by one incli and three-eighths in depth. The nest of this species 
is attached by the rim to the thin twigs of a tree and is usually 
placed about six or seven feet from the ground, the top of a 
Melaleuca or Leptosjiennum being especially a favourite situation 
for it, although I have found it in a number of different trees, both 
native and acclimatized, when it resorts to our public gardens to 
breed. Eggs three or four in number for a sitting of a uniform pale 
blue. Dimensions of a set in the Australian Museum Collection, 
taken with the above described nest: — length (A) 065 x 0 49 
inch ; (B) 0-67 x 0-47 inch ; (C) 0-64 x 0-5 inch ; (D) 0-65 x 
0 - 47 inch. 
The breeding season of this species commences in September 
and continues during the four following months. I have several 
