_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)