ZOSTEROPS CHLORONOTUS, Gould.
Green-backed Zosterops.
Zosterops chloronotus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 165.
Jule-w̏e-de-lung, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.
Grape- and Fig-eater, Colonists of Swan River.
The Zosterops chloronotus is an inhabitant of the western coast of Australia, where it constitutes a beautiful representative of the Zosterops dorsalis of the southern and eastern coasts. As might be supposed, the habits, manners, actions and economy of two species so nearly allied are very similar; hence the settlers of Swan River were not long in discovering that in this species they had found no friend to their gardens during the season when the fruits are ripening, whatever good it may effect by the destruction of insects at other periods.
Mr. Gilbert states that “This bird is particularly fond of figs and grapes, it consequently abounds in all the gardens where those plants are cultivated; and it is often to be seen as numerous as sparrows in England; besides feeding upon fruits, I have also observed it taking flies while on the wing after the manner of the true Flycatchers.
“Its note is a single plaintive one, several times repeated; and its flight is irregular, and of short duration.
“The breeding-season commences in August and ends in November; those nests that came under my observation during the earlier part of the season, invariably contained two eggs; but in October and November I usually found the number to be increased to three, and upon one occasion to four. The nest is small, compact, and formed of dried wiry grasses, bound together with the hairy tendrils of small plants and wool, the inside being lined with very minute fibrous roots; its breadth is about two inches, and depth one inch; the eggs are greenish blue without spots or markings, eight lines long by six lines broad.”
Lores black; crown of the head and all the upper surface olive-green; primaries and tail-feathers brown, margined with olive-green; throat and under tail-coverts light greenish yellow; breast and under surface grey, tinged with brown on the abdomen and flanks; irides wood-brown; bill brown, lighter on the under mandible; legs and feet dark grey.
The figures are of the natural size.