_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.
=Zosterops conspicillata owstoni= Hartert