ZOSTEROPS TENUIROSTRIS, Gow.
Slender-billed Zosterops.

  
  
   
  
   
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 

Zosterops tenwirostris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part iv. p. 76, and in Syn. Birds of Aust., pl. . fig. 1.
lateralis, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 198, Zosterops, sp. 5.

 

Tue specific name of ¢enwrostris has been given to this bird from the circumstance of its bill being some-
what prolonged when compared with the bills of the other members of the genus ; not only is its bill more
lengthened, but its body is also more slender and elegant in contour than that of any of its congeners. Its
native country is Norfolk Island, whence all the specimens I have seen have been forwarded to this country,
by way of New South Wales. It is a very distinct and well-defined species, and is of large size when
compared with most of its near allies. Of its habits, manners, and mode of life nothing has yet been
recorded, which is much to be regretted, as they might present some peculiarities consequent upon the
particular character of the vegetation of this remote island, which differs very considerably from that of
Australia. I fear the time is gone by when we might expect to glean any information respecting it from
some intelligent Government officer stationed in this famed Paradise of climate and vegetation ; it can
scarcely be supposed that the Pitcairn Islanders, who now inhabit it, can have contracted a taste for natural
history.
All the specimens I have seen being similarly coloured, it is believed that the sexes, like those of Zoste- |
rops albogularis, do not differ in outward appearance. |
Head, all the upper surface, and wing-coverts olive-green, brightest on the head and upper tail-coverts ; WHY Y
wings and tail brown, margined with olive-green ; throat yellow, stained with red in the centre; centre of
the abdomen and under tail-coverts pale yellow; flanks olive-brown; bill and legs light brown, inclining to
lead-colour; eye surrounded by a narrow zone of white feathers, bounded below by a line of blackish
brown.

The figures are of the natural size.