Part 121

Tephras cinerea Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 77 (Kusaie); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 712 (Oualan).

Zosterops cinerea cinerea Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1269, 1944, p. 7 (Kusaie?); idem, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 300 (Kusaie).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Kusaie.

Characters.--Adult: A small, dusky white-eye with upper parts smoky olivaceous-gray; lores dingy white; auriculars brownish; no white orbital ring; wing and tail feathers dark brownish-gray with paler greenish-gray outer edges; underparts pale ashy-gray, chin lighter, flanks darker; bill black; feet light brown; iris brown.

Measurements.--Measurements of Z. cinerea are listed in table 51. Males and females have approximately equal measurements.

TABLE 51. MEASUREMENTS OF Zosterops cinerea

====================+=====+=========+=========+=============+========= SUBSPECIES | No. | Wing | Tail | Culmen | Tarsus --------------------+-----+---------+---------+-------------+--------- Z. c. cinerea | 47 | 63 | 37 | 15.0 | 20 | | (60-65) | (35-39) | (14.0-16.5) | (19-20) | | | | | Z. c. ponapensis | 38 | 59 | 38 | 13.5 | 20 | | (57-61) | (36-40) | (13.0-14.5) | (18-21) | | | | | Z. c. finschii | 30 | 65 | 43 | 17.5 | 21 | | (63-67) | (40-46) | (16.0-18.5) | (20-23) --------------------+-----+---------+---------+-------------+---------

Specimens examined.--Total number, 50 (33 males, 17 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Kusaie, 1 (Feb. 9); AMNH--Kusaie, 49 (Jan., Feb., March).

Nesting.--Coultas found that approximately one-half of the males which he obtained in March, 1931, had swollen gonads.

Molt.--Many of the birds obtained in January and February were molting, and many of those obtained in March were in fresh plumage.

Remarks.--Coultas obtained a large series of these birds at Kusaie in 1931, where he found them to be common.

=Zosterops cinerea ponapensis= Finsch

Micronesian Dusky White-eye

Zosterops ponapensis Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875 (1876), p. 643. (Type locality, Ponapé.)

Zosterops ponapensis Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 27, pl. 2, fig. 1 (Ponapé); idem., Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 778 (Ponapé); Nehrkorn, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 1879, p. 396 (Ponapé?); Finsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 286, 300 (Ponapé); idem, Ibis. 1881, pp. 110, 111, 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281 (Ponapé); Finsch, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 48 (Ponapé); Gadow, Cat. Birds British Mus., 9, 1884, p. 198 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 36 (Ponapé); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg. 1898, p. 60 (Ponapé); Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers., 1899, p. 80 (Ponapé); Finsch, Das Tierreich, no. 15, 1901, p. 46 (Ponapé); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 713 (Ponapé); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 470 (Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, pp. 55, 65 (Ponapé); Stresemann, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17, 1931, p. 230 (Ponapè); Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1932, p. 397 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 173 (Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 192 (Ponapé).

Tephras ponapensis Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 111, 112, 113 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 77 (Ponapé); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 712 (Ponapé).

Zosterops ponapenensis Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 224 (Ponapé).

Zosterops cinerea ponapensis Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1269, 1944, p. 7 (Ponapé?); idem, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 300 (Ponapé).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.

Characters.--Adult: Resembles adult of Z. c. cinerea, but smaller with upper parts umber-brown, forehead pale gray; underparts mostly pale gray, sides of breast and abdomen brownish-buff; under tail-coverts pale buffy-gray.

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 51.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 47 (28 males, 17 females, 2 unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ponapé, 1 (Feb. 11); AMNH--Ponapé, 46 (Nov., Dec.).

Nesting.--Yamashina (1931a:397-398) describes two nests of Z. c. ponapensis, each containing one egg. These were taken at Ponapé on August 4 and 11, 1931. The nests were located 2.5 meters from the ground. The eggs are light blue and pale greenish-blue in color; one measures 18.5 by 13.5. He writes, "The nest consists of two layers, the inner and the outer. The outer layer is made of fine roots, fibers, leaves and petals, interwoven with a large quantity of cotton-wool, and the inner layer is made of fibers of fine roots only." Coultas found that a large number of birds taken in November had enlarged gonads, especially the males; in December, fewer birds with swollen gonads were obtained.

Remarks.--Coultas found this white-eye to be common at Ponapé, when he visited that island in November and December, 1930. He observed the birds in flocks and found them noisy and quarrelsome. They feed in bushes and small trees on seeds and insects. Richards obtained "small large-seeded blackish berries" from the stomach of a female from Ponapé. He found the birds to frequent low altitudes in and about native gardens.

=Zosterops cinerea finschii= (Hartlaub)

Micronesian Dusky White-eye

Tephras finschii Hartlaub, in Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 6, pl. 3. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)

Tephras finschii Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, pp. 117, 118 (Pelew Islands).