Zosterops conspicillata semperi Hartlaub
Bridled White-eye
Zosterops semperi Hartlaub, in Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 117. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)
Zosterops semperi Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 95 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 4, 16, pl. 4, fig. 1 (Palau); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 777 (Pelew); Nehrkorn, Journ. f. Ornith., 1879, p. 396 (Palau); Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 286 (Palau); idem (part), Ibis, 1881, p. 111 (Pelew); Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 407 (Palau); Finsch (part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 48 (Palau); Gadow (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 9, 1884, p. 183 (Pelew); Tristram, Cat. Birds, 1889, p. 212 (Pelew); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 37 (Pelew); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 208 (Palaos); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 57 (Pelew); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Palau); Finsch (part), Das Tierreich, no. 15, 1901, p. 30 (Palau); Seale (part), Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 58 (Pelew); Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 710 (Palau); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, pp. 55, 64 (Pelew).
Zosterops semperi semperi Hartert, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 2 (Pelew); Momiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, pp. 22, 23 (Pelew); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 75 (Pelew); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 705 (Pelew); Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 486 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 174 (Palau).
Zosterops conspicillata semperi Stresemann, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17, 1931, p. 227 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 193 (Babelthuap, Koror, Peliliu); Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1269, 1944, p. 7 (Palau); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 299 (Palau); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1945, p. 73 (Garakayo).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Palau Islands—Babelthuap, Koror, Garakayo, Peleliu.
Characters.—Adult: Resembles adult of Z. c. rotensis, but fronto-loral band lighter yellow, and coloring is usually not continuous above; auriculars paler; breast and abdomen paler yellow; maxilla and feet darker; mandible whitish. Resembles adult of Z. c. conspicillata, but brighter greenish-yellow above; coloring of chin and throat like that of rest of underparts; auriculars colored like back; fronto-loral band narrowly tinged with bright yellow and not completely connected above; orbital ring narrow; iris grayish-white.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 50].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 30 (15 males, 14 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM—Babelthuap, 2 (Nov. 27)—Koror, 4 (Nov. 14, 19)—Garakayo, 4 (Sept. 18, 19); AMNH—exact locality not given, 20 (Oct., Nov., Dec.).
Molt.—All birds examined (taken in September, October, and November) are in molting plumage.
Food habits.—At Garakayo, birds were observed in small flocks feeding in low trees. Two stomachs examined, which were from individuals of these flocks, contained very small seeds.
Remarks.—Oustalet (1895:207) first pointed out the relationship between the Bridled White-eye at Palau and the one at Rota. Hartert (1898:57) thought that the occurrence of the same kind of bird at Palau and at Rota was "very peculiar." It was not until 1931 that Takatsukasa and Yamashina separated the two populations by name.
Coultas (field notes) found the Bridled White-eye to be uncommon in the Palaus in 1931. He observed them in the tops of trees, noting that they were wary and easily frightened away by the shooting of a gun. Coultas writes that he found the birds to be numerous at Peleliu; in 1945, the NAMRU2 party did not find the birds at that island. The only locality where they were found to occur was on the small island of Garakayo where the writer shot four Bridled White-eyes on September 18 and 19. He found two or three small flocks in low trees near the summit of a hill on the island. Approximately 25 birds were in this area.