Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ZOSTEROPS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 1044 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ZOSTEROPS ,1 originally the scientific name of a genus of birds founded by N. A. Vigors and T. Horsfield (Trans. Linn. Society, xv. p. 235) on an Australian See also:

species called by them Z. dorsalis, but subsequently shown to be identical with the Certhia caerulescens, and also with the Sylvia lateralis, previously described by J. Latham. The name has been Anglicized in the same sense, and, whether as a scientific or a See also:vernacular See also:term, applied to a See also:great number of species2 of little birds which inhabit for the most See also:part the tropical districts of the Old See also:World, from See also:Africa to most of the islands in the See also:Indian and Pacific Oceans, and northwards in-See also:Asia through See also:India and See also:China to the See also:Amur regions and See also:Japan. r The derivation is i"worltps-ilpos and whence the word should be pronounced with all the vowels See also:long. The allusion is to the See also:ring of See also:white feathers See also:round the eyes, which is very conspicuous in many species. 2 In 1883 R.

B. See also:

Sharpe (See also:Cat. B. Brit. Museum, ix. pp. 146–203) admitted 85 species, besides 3 more which he had not been able to examine. The birds of this See also:group are mostly of unpretending See also:appearance, the plumage above being generally either See also:mouse-coloured or greenish See also:olive; but some are varied by the white or See also:bright yellow of their See also:throat, See also:breast or See also:lower parts, and several have the flanks of a more or less lively See also:bay. Several islands are inhabited by two perfectly distinct species, one belonging to the See also:brown and the other to the See also:green See also:section, the former being wholly insular. The greater number of species seem to be confined to single islands, often of very small See also:area, but others have a very wide See also:distribution, and the type-species, Z. caerulescens, has largely extended its range. First described from New See also:South See also:Wales, where it is very plentiful, it had been long known to inhabit all the eastern part of See also:Australia. In 1856 it was found in the South See also:Island of New See also:Zealand, when it became known to the Maories by a name signifying " Stranger," and to the See also:British as the " Blight-See also:bird,"3 from its clearing the See also:fruit-trees of a blight. It soon after appeared in the See also:North Island, where it speedily became See also:common, and thence not only spread to the See also:Chatham Islands, but was met with in considerable See also:numbers 300 See also:miles from See also:land, as though in See also:search of new countries to colonize.

In any See also:

case it is obvious that this Zosterops must be a comparatively See also:modern settler in New Zealand. All the species of Zosterops are sociable, consorting in large flocks, which only See also:separate on the approach of the pairing See also:season. They build nests—sometimes suspended from a See also:horizontal See also:fork and sometimes fixed in an upright crctch—and See also:lay (so far as is known) See also:pale See also:blue, spotless eggs, thereby differing wholly from several of the See also:groups of birds to which they have been thought allied. Though mainly insectivorous, they eat fruits of various kinds. The habits of Z. caerulescens have been well described by See also:Sir W. See also:Buller (Birds of New Zealand), and those of a species See also:peculiar to See also:Ceylon, Z. ceylonensis, by See also:Col. See also:Legge (B. Ceylon), while those of the widely ranging Indian Z. palpebrosa and of the South-See also:African Z. capensis have been succinctly treated by Jerdon (B. India, ii.) and See also:Layard (B. South Africa) respectively. It is remarkable that the largest known species of the genus, Z. albigularis, measuring nearly 6 in. in length, is confined to so small a spot as See also:Norfolk Island, where also another, Z. tenuirostris, not much less in See also:size, occurs; while a third, of intermediate stature, Z. slrenua, inhabits the still smaller See also:Lord See also:Howe's Island. A See also:fourth, Z. vatensis, but little inferior in bulk, is found on one of the New See also:Hebrides; the See also:rest are from one-fifth to one-third less in length, and some of the smaller species hardly exceed 31 in.

Placed by some writers, if not systematists, with the Paridae (see See also:

TITMOUSE), by others among the Meliphagidae (see See also:HONEY-EATER), and again by others with the Nectariniidae (see SUNBIRD), the structure of the See also:tongue, as shown by H. F. Gadow (Prot. Zool. Society, 1883, pp. 63, 68, pl. xvi. fig. 2), entirely removes it from the first and third, and from most of the forms generally included among the second. It seems safest to regard the genus, at least provisionally, as the type of a distinct See also:family—Zosteropidae—as families go among Passerine birds. (A.

End of Article: ZOSTEROPS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ZOSIMUS 		[next]
ZOUAVE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries