On the seasonal changes in the plumage of Zosterops caerulescens
Abstract
In describing Zostercps westernensis of Quoy and Gaimard in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe makes the following observations :— "An Australian specimen has been described, and it is extraordinary that a bird which seems to be widely distributed on that continent should so much have escaped notice, the only allusion to the species that I can find in Mr. Gould's work being a passage where he mentions that some specimens of Z. Coerulescens have the throat wax-yellow. It seems to be the Z. Westernensis (Q. & G.), a species re-instated in the system by Dr. Hartlaub (J. f. O. 1865) p. 20."
With a view of solving the mystery why so common a species should have been overlooked by most writers, I have given this subject my attention for the past two years, by careful observation and the collecting of a number of specimens of Zosterops found in the neighbourhood of Sydney.
