Characters.—Adult: Resembles adult of Z. c. semperi, but slightly smaller with fronto-loral area more sulfur-yellow; underparts brighter, especially the coloring of the abdomen and under tail-coverts; iris light chestnut.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 50].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 20 (10 males, 9 females, 1 unsexed) from Caroline Islands, AMNH—Ponapé (Nov., Dec.).
Nesting.—Yamashina (1932a:400) records nests and eggs of Z. c. takatsukasai. The nests, each containing a single egg, were taken on July 10 and 20, 1931. Coultas (field notes) writes that the nest consists of a small, cup-shaped structure of grasses and hair. The natives told him that two eggs were laid. In birds taken by Coultas in November the gonads were beginning to enlarge; specimens taken in December had swollen gonads. From the evidence at hand, it would appear that the Bridled White-eye at Ponapé breeds at two periods of the year, the winter and the summer.
Molt.—Specimens examined, which were taken by Coultas in November and December, are in fresh plumage.
Remarks.—In 1931, Coultas (field notes) found this white-eye to be rare at Ponapé. He obtained almost every one that he saw to get his series of 20 specimens. He found the birds usually in pairs around yellow-flowering bushy trees. A specimen taken by Richards had "small insects" in its stomach.
Zosterops conspicillata hypolais Hartlaub and Finsch
Bridled White-eye
Zosterops hypolais Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 95. (Type locality, Uap.)
Zosterops hypolais Gräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 122 (Yap); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 776 (Carolinae=Yap); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 391 (Yap); Gadow. Cat. Birds British Mus., 9, 1884, p. 186 (Uap); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 37 (Uap); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 208 (Uap); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 60 (Yap); Finsch, Das Tierreich, no. 15, 1901, p. 24 (Yap); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Yap); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 708 (Uap); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 469 (Karolinen=Yap); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Mackenzie=Yap); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 76 (Yap); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 700 (Yap); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 192 (Yap).