Ghosts and entanglements in one drawer of a natural history collection: The White-eyes (Aves, Passeriformes, Zosteropidae) of World Museum, Liverpool

1 Ghosts and entanglements in one drawer of a natural history collection: The White-eyes (Aves, Passeriformes, Zosteropidae) of World Museum, Liverpool John-James Wilson1 1 Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN, UK Corresponding author: John-James Wilson ([email protected]g.uk) Copyright: © John-James Wilson. This is an open access article distributed under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution 4.0 International – CC BY 4.0). Historical study Abstract World Museum holds the second largest bird collections in England. Despite the bird study skins being evacuated to North Wales at the outbreak of World War II, one drawer containing White-eyes (Aves, Passeriformes, Zosteropidae, Zosterops) was destroyed when the building in Liverpool was bombed and burned out in 1941. The biographies of 219 ghost (now existing only as written records or illustrations) and 31 extant specimens of White-eyes listed in this article, reflect entanglements with local events and broader history of European science and imperialism that shaped the natural history collection in Liverpool. These specimens (86 taxa) were mostly collected between 1850 and 1900 and originated in 29 modern-day countries, almost all former British, Dutch and French colonies, protectorates or concessions. The destroyed White-eyes came from the large private collections of Edward Smith-Stanley (13th Earl of Derby) and Henry Baker Tristram. Both men cultivated a web of suppliers across the globe encompassing military officers, colonial officials, missionaries, settlers, freelance collectors, museums and commercial dealers. Destroyed specimens included type specimens (Urospizias natalis, Z. chrysolaema, Z. citrinella, Z. difficilis, Z. griseiventris, Z. hovarum, Z. loochooensis, Z. metcalfii, Z. prætermissa, Z. sanctæ-crucis, Z. simplex, Z. subrosea, Z. vatensis), possible type specimens (Tephras finchii, Z. albogularis, Z. atricapilla, Z. ceylonensis, Z. delicatula, Z. japonicus, Z. kirki, Z. ponapensis, Z. stejnegeri) and specimens previously, incorrectly, recorded as types (Z. chloris, Z. inornatus, Z. mauritianus, Z. minutus, Z. strenuus, Z. tetiparius), all linked to notable published works and authors. Key words: Archives, birds, collectors, destroyed specimens, Edward Smith-Stanley, empire, Henry Baker Tristram, Henry Ogg Forbes Introduction Zosterops sensu lato, encompassing passerine birds known as White-eyes in English, is a “great speciator” group with over 250 subspecies found across Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific (Engler et al. 2021; Gwee et al. 2021). A genus named Zosterops was first proposed by Vigors and Horsfield (1827), entangling the study of these birds with European imperialism - Nicholas Aylward Vigors was secretary of the newly-established Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Academic editor: Peter Adamik Received: 7 April 2025 Accepted: 8 October 2025 Published: 13 November 2025 Citation: Wilson J-J (2025) Ghosts and entanglements in one drawer of a natural history collection: The White-eyes (Aves, Passeriformes, Zosteropidae) of World Museum, Liverpool. Natural History Collections and Museomics 2: 1–52. https://doi. org/10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 Natural History Collections and Museomics 2: 1–52 (2025) DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 2 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Thomas Horsfield was curator of the British East India Company (EIC)’s India Museum, having worked for the Dutch East India Company and EIC in Java (modern-day Indonesia) (McNair 1942). Over nearly 200 years, hundreds of scientific names have been placed within the group, which has also been considered a subfamily, Zosteropinae and family, Zosteropidae, credited to Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1853), 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano. Difficulties establishing phylogenetic relationships and setting taxonomic boundaries have resulted in several “wastebasket” species complexes (see Lim et al. (2019)). As many species and subspecies of White-eyes are restricted to small islands or island groups, understanding the patterns and processes of their distributions has been considered essential to understanding zoogeography (Mees 1957; Engler et al. 2021). Yet, species of White-eyes are still being described (O’Connell et al. 2019; Martins et al. 2020; Irham et al. 2023) and revised (Lim et al. 2019). Faced with today’s global challenges, robust species names are needed to underpin monitoring of the songbird trade and ex-situ conservation management (Bruslund 2021) and for forecasting invasions (DeRaad et al. 2024). Documenting historical collections of White-eyes, especially type specimens, is essential for species delimitation and accurate identification (Irham et al. 2023). Any museum with global bird collections would be expected to have a substantial collection of White-eyes. The oldest public museum in Liverpool, which has gone by several names (rebranding as World Museum in 2005) (Millard 2010) and is referred to as “the Museum” below, holds the second largest bird collections in England (Roselaar 2003). In this article, I document and contextualise the ghost, now existing only as written or illustrated records (Ceríaco et al. 2025), and extant specimens of White-eyes from the Museum’s collection. The biographies of these specimens mirror the Museum’s entanglements with local events and broader history of European science and imperialism. Acquisition history, documentation, study and destruction of the Museum’s White-eyes Before 1894 Edward Smith-Stanley ([13th] Earl of Derby from 1834 to 1851), travelled little himself, but as heir to the Knowsley estate about nine miles east of Liverpool, access to incredible borrowed wealth (Crosby 2002) and a network of contacts and agents worldwide, assembled a large private zoo and museum at Knowsley Hall housing animals from across the globe (Brennan and Morgan 1977; Fisher 2002; Wilson 2021a; Clayton 2023). The mid-1840s saw Smith-Stanley’s mania for collecting reach a pinnacle (Morgan 1978); items in his “Copy Letterbooks (1807–1850)” archived at the Museum show how he shopped compulsively from dealers, haggling over prices and payments. He bought White-eyes from: Benjamin Leadbeater, who operated a family business from 19 Brewer Street, Picadilly, London and was notable for trading specimens with Coenraad Jacob Temminck (private collector then founding director of the Leiden Museum) (Van Grouw et al. 2024; Wilson 2025); I. E. Warwick who operated a business from 23 New Street, Kennington Road, London and was associated with the collections of commercial museum operator, William Bullock (Steinheimer 2005); and Maison Verreaux, 3 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes established at Place des Vosges, Paris, by Pierre Verreaux, but gaining notoriety through his sons, Jules Pierre Verreaux and Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux (see Molina (2002)). Smith-Stanley also acquired specimens from diplomats stationed overseas who dabbled in collecting. A handwritten “Memorandum”, dated July 1845, now held in the ZSL archives, recorded Brian Houghton Hodgson, EIC officer in Nepal and devoted amateur naturalist (Lowther 2023), presenting 205 bird skins to Smith-Stanley (this included one White-eye). The ZSL, of which Smith-Stanley was a founding member, donor of live animals and (somewhat absentee) president from 1831 until his death, was a useful pool of talent. Curator, Louis Fraser, zookeeper, Thomas John Moore and artist, Edward Lear, were all recruited from the ZSL to Knowsley Hall. Between 1848 and 1850, Fraser compiled six volumes of “Catalogue of the Birds in the Knowsley Museum”, an incomplete stock book of Smith-Stanley’s collections (Brennan and Morgan 1977), which included ten White-eyes. Although originally intending to leave his collections to the British Museum, Smith-Stanley bequeathed them to Liverpool’s local authority, founding its first public museum. Negotiations following his death in June 1851 (Millard 2010) resulted in 20,000 specimens (19,000 birds, including the ten White-eyes) and Moore, physically transferring to the new Museum in Liverpool in early 1852. In the middle of a century that saw local authority museums springing up across the United Kingdom (Hill 2005) and its colonies, the fledgling Museum opened to the public in a converted building on Duke Street, Liverpool. Moore occupied himself mounting bird skins (Millard 2010) and compiling twelve further volumes of the stock book of Smith-Stanley’s birds, as “Derby Museum Stockbook: Birds”; these later volumes did not include any White-eyes. More birds (but seemingly no White-eyes) were donated from the EIC’s India Museum in 1855 and 1856 where Moore’s brother, Frederic Moore, was assistant curator (190 specimens of 145 species); purchased from Alfred Russel Wallace’s expedition to Southeast Asia (around 200 specimens); and bequeathed in 1867 with the African collection (around 100 specimens) of William Tyrer Gerrard (Table 1). The galleries and collections moved into a grand purpose-built building on (what is now named) William Brown Street in 1860 (Millard 2010). Ornithologists continued to study the collections, including – Henry Earles Dresser (Table 1), John Gould, Thomas Campbell Eyton, Alfred Newton (University of Cambridge professor with inherited wealth from sugar plantations in the Caribbean; Qureshi (2025)) and Philip Lutley Sclater (lawyer and secretary of the ZSL), amongst others (Ford 1955). 1894 to 1941 With the appointment of Henry Ogg Forbes (see Van Eynde (2018); Table 1) as director in 1894, the Museum had its Belle Époque (Morgan 1978). Besides supervising the “College of Technology and Museum Extension” and embedding scientific racism in the public galleries (Tythacott 2011; Scott 2020), Forbes orchestrated the purchase of Henry Baker Tristram’s collection. Tristram, Canon of Durham and epitome of the Victorian parson-naturalist (see Hale (2016)), had been “indefatigable in amassing specimens from all quarters, while he was specially interested in obtaining them from remote oceanic islands and similar strange places” (Sclater 1906); prime habitats for White-eyes. He consequently owned one of the largest 4 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes and most complete private collections of birds ever assembled. Tristram travelled widely, hunting and preparing specimens himself, but also relied on a network of over 781 suppliers (Morgan 1978), made up of folks who often straddled multiple occupations: settlers; colonial government officials; military officers; missionaries (particularly those associated with the Church Missionary Society of which Tristram was a governor); freelance collectors; and professional museum staff (Tristram 1889a). Swops with other amateurs was another strategy to obtain rare species. More than 50 suppliers (Table 1) provided Tristram with over 200 specimens of White-eyes. Tristram gave his specimens a catalogue number and kept a handwritten catalogue (dated 1879) of his collection in five volumes, organised systematically (Morgan 1978). He studied his collection himself, regularly publishing taxonomic articles and species descriptions, including for White-eyes (e.g. Tristram (1882, 1887a, 1887b, 1894)), some with plates by Joseph Smit and Johannes Gerardus Keulemans, the go-to zoological illustrators of the day. White-eyes in Tristram’s collection were cited by Hans Friedrich Gadow (1884) in the ninth volume of “Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum” - the catalogue was not intended as simply a record of the British Museum’s collections, but a comprehensive list of all known species and synonymous names. Tristram (1889a) also self-published a printed “Catalogue of a Collection of Birds Belonging to H. B. Tristram, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.” listing 18 specimens of White-eyes as types. Fearing that, on his death, his collection might be dispersed, Tristram began negotiating the sale of his entire collection to the Museum (Forwood 1896). In March 1896, Forbes travelled to Durham to examine Tristram’s collection. According to Forbes’ report, held in the Museum, “each specimen was individually scrutinised and marked off in the [printed] catalogue, while a list [between pages 211 and 212 for White-eyes] was made of all additions to the collection since the [1889] publication of the printed catalogue submitted by Canon Tristram”. Forbes also marked further White-eyes as types. The purchase was agreed at £3,150 (equivalent to £365,000 today). The Museum’s report described Tristram’s collection as exceeding 20,000 specimens, more than 6,000 species and over 150 types (Forbes 1897), although Tristram’s own estimate was 17,000 specimens and 128 types (Baker 1996). Specimens trickled into the Museum until 1900 (Morgan 1978) and were given custom printed “E. Mus. H. B. Tristram” labels, numbered according to Tristram’s handwritten catalogue. However, specimens were not individually listed in the Museum’s stock book, where the entry on “2.4.[18]96” simply read “The Tristram Collection of Bird Skins”. Tristram continued collecting until his death in 1906. His “second” collection of 7,000 specimens was acquired by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) (Merseyside County Council 1981; Baker 1996). Some specimens listed in Tristram’s (1889a) printed catalogue must have been kept by Tristram and sent to the ANSP with his “second” collection. One example is a type of Henicopernis infuscatus (Rice (2025); Catalogue number ANSP-ORN 55963) - Forbes marked up copy of Tristram’s printed catalogue has a handwritten annotation, “in America never in [the Museum’s] collection”, made by Reginald Wagstaffe in July 1958. Based on species identity, collection dates and collectors, where known, ten specimens of White-eyes in Tristram’s (1889a) printed catalogue and five of Forbes’ additions, possibly were dispatched to the ANSP (a 2012 database of specimens supplied by Tristram to the ANSP, provided by the ANSP and archived at the Museum, lists 48 White-eyes). 5 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Herbert Christopher Robinson, traveller and demonstrator at University College Liverpool (Anonymous 1929), started volunteering at the Museum in 1896, assisting with cataloguing the bird collections (Forbes 1897; Wilson et al. 2022). Catalogues published by Forbes and Robinson (1897, 1898a, 1898b, 1899a, 1899b, 1900) and Forbes (1900) in “Bulletin of the Liverpool Museums under the City Council” and/or bound as “Catalogue of Birds of the Derby Museum Vol. 1” (archived at the Museum) did not extend to White-eyes. However, Robinson (1899) published a “Note on three rare and not hitherto figured species of Zosterops in the Derby collection” in the Museum’s bulletin, highlighting some White-eyes collected by Forbes (1885) during his “wanderings” in modern-day Indonesia. In 1898, Forbes led the British and Liverpool Museums’ expedition to Socotra (then a British protectorate, now part of modern-day Yemen), accompanied by William Robert Ogilvie-Grant of the British Museum (Natural History) and James William Cutmore, the Museum’s taxidermist (Wilson 2020a, 2020b). “The Natural History of Sokotra and Abd-El-Kuri”, edited by Forbes (1903) documented the expedition and collections, including the endemic White-eyes, which were split between the two museums. Robinson left Liverpool to join a private expedition to the Thai-Malay Peninsula (Annandale and Robinson 1903) and was appointed curator of Selangor Museum in Kuala Lumpur in 1903, before directing the Federated Malay States Museums (part of the British colonial government in modern-day Malaysia). In 1914, Robinson invited William Shepherd Laverock from the Museum to the Federated Malay States for a collecting expedition. However, at Robinson’s suggestion, Laverock did not hunt birds and mammals, but instead the Museum was gifted a selection of 300 bird skins from the existing Selangor Museum collection (Wilson 2021b). The gift did not include any White-eyes although Selangor Museum staff had collected many. Robinson and his assistant and friend, Cecil Boden Kloss (Wilson 2022), made several attempts to add coherency to the taxonomy of Whiteeyes (Wells 2017), revising some species and, recalling Robinson’s (1899) note on White-eyes in the Museum, describing Forbes’ specimens of “Z. chlorates” in the Museum as a new species (Robinson and Kloss 1918). Forbes remained director of the Museum until 1911, then “consulting director” until his death in 1932. Twelve bird skins, labelled with dates and collection localities (Micronesia), but not collector or donor, were found “unregistered” and added to the Museum’s accession register in 1925. They included five White-eyes, two from Guam (formerly a Spanish, then United States colony). An undated pencil annotation to the accession register reads: “Stored in New Bird Room”. There seems to have been no further acquisition of White-eyes before catastrophe struck the Museum in 1941. 1941 to present The “fatal night” (3 May 1941), when the Museum building on William Brown Street was heavily damaged by German bombs and burned out, was described in detail by Douglas Allan (1941), the Museum’s director. Shortly after war was declared (3 September 1939), the bird skins had been evacuated to country houses in North Wales (Millard 2010). Consequently and contrary to a misapprehension apparently long held by some museums overseas (Brennan and 6 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Morgan 1977), losses to the bird collections were limited to eggs, mounts and books. However, two drawers of bird skins were destroyed (Morgan 1978), as a letter from Frank Lambert, acting director, to Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, curator of the Raffles Museum in Singapore (then a British colony), explained. There had been an earlier unfulfilled agreement to move type specimens from Singapore to London where “they would be safer than in a tropical climate and available to a greater number of interested persons”. Gibson-Hill was enquiring after the type of Robinson and Kloss’ Z. difficilis after it had been erroneously included in a list of types held at the Raffles Museum. Gibson-Hill (1949) published Lambert’s (19 May 1948) reply in the “Bulletin of the Raffles Museum”: When air raid precautions were necessary, all type specimens of birds in the Museum’s possession were evacuated to a safe place and survived the war intact. There are, however, no specimens of Zosterops among these. There remains a possibility that the specimen was not labelled as a type in which case it would be left in the general collection of skins, which was also moved to a safer place. Unfortunately, two drawers of this collection were temporarily brought back to the Museum for study purposes and were destroyed at the time we were bombed. One of the drawers contained the genus Zosterops and possibly the specimen under notice. Despite Forbes’ checks through Tristram’s collection, no White-eyes seem to have been labelled as types and all must have been in the drawer of White-eyes brought back to William Brown Street. Fraser and Moore’s stock books of birds in Smith-Stanley’s collections survived. Four volumes of Tristram’s handwritten catalogue survived, but, according to a letter from Peter Morgan (the Museum’s keeper of vertebrate zoology) to Dr Gill in Philadelphia (dated 27 April 1978; copy held in the Museum), one volume, which must have included White-eyes, was destroyed. Forbes’ marked up copy of Tristram’s printed catalogue survived. Zoological work at the Museum declined post-war (Johnstone and Maylor 1956), but efforts to replace destroyed collections included the purchase of the non-British collections of Norwich Castle Museum in 1956. Although mainly antiquities and ethnographic objects, the acquisition included two boxes and two parcels of “zoology” with two mounted White-eyes, both from the mid-1800s. In Leiden, curator Gerloff Foko Mees re-appraised the listings in Tristram’s (1889a) printed catalogue (but not Forbes’ marked-up copy) for his three-part systematic review of Indo-Australasian White-eyes (Mees 1957, 1961, 1969), refuting some purported type specimens. Mees was with Dutch forces stationed on Java during the Indonesian National Revolution of the 1940s; problems identifying local White-eyes while birdwatching in his spare time sparked a lifelong interest in the group (Roselaar 2014). The 1970s and 1980s saw political changes for the Museum (Millard 2010) and a revival of cataloguing. However, a 733-page, “Donor and date index of manuscript catalogues (4 volumes) of birds in Canon H. B. Tristram’s collection” (archived at the Museum), did not include White-eyes as they were not in Tristram’s extant volumes. A type catalogue by Wagstaffe (1978) almost exclusively covered extant specimens, with no White-eyes listed beyond an 7 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes introductory note explaining eleven of Tristram’s types were destroyed in 1941. Clemency Thorne Fisher (1981) published an inventory of extinct, endangered or rare bird taxa in the Museum, but again, this covered extant specimens, so no White-eyes were listed. “A list of bird species represented in the collections of Merseyside County Museums” (Merseyside County Council 1981), compiled from Morony, Bock and Farrand (1975), was published in 1981 provisionally listing the extant specimens (without counts) of eight species of White-eyes. Mees and Fisher (1986) corrected more collection dates for specimens Tristram had acquired from Edgar Leopold Layard (Table 1), further refuting some purported types. The Museum’s most recent acquisition of White-eyes was six unprovenanced specimens (previously in Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery) donated in 1999 with a collection of around 200 foreign birds and mammals from Lancashire County Council’s Museum Service (during a volatile period for museums in North West England; see Candlin et al. (2020)). Catalogue of the Museum’s White-eyes Using literature, archival resources described above (some available at https://archive.org/details/@vertebrate_curator) and labels on extant specimens, I compiled the following list of White-eyes (250 specimens) acquired by the Museum over its 174-year history. Challenges to compiling accurate records were the lack of White-eyes in the four (extant) volumes of Tristram’s handwritten catalogue and the destruction of specimens, together with any information on their labels, in 1941. The losses appear limited to Smith-Stanley and Tristram’s specimens, as no White-Eyes had been received as part of other notable acquisitions (see above). I investigated the taxonomic and type status of each specimen, with particular reference to Mees (1957, 1961, 1969) and the Avibase database information system (Lepage et al. (2014); accessed January 2025). Records are listed under scientific names and in sequence presented in "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist v.2025" (AviList Core Team 2025; Rheindt et al. 2025). Codes for collections follow the Global Registry of Scientific Collections (https://scientific-collections.gbif.org/; accessed July 2025). Unless otherwise stated, the specimens listed were/are study skins. Heleia javanica frontalis (Reichenbach HGL, 1852) Fraser listed one specimen “Zosterops monticola” as entry “1546” in “Catalogue of Birds in the Knowsley Museum”. This “nomen nudum” seems to have been widely used at the time, for the taxon now known as H. javanica frontalis (see Mees (1969)) (see Z. melanurus buxtoni below for other specimens from Java that potentially could be confused with this species). • One unsexed specimen from “Java” [Java, Indonesia], purchased from “M. Verreaux” [Maison Verreaux] on 09/10/1849. Destroyed 03/05/1941. 8 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “fallax Sharpe”. The name “fallax” mostly seems to have been ignored by other ornithologists and was synonymised under Lophozosterops javanica frontalis by Mees (1969). • Two male specimens from “Sumatra” [Sumatra, Indonesia] acquired from “Verreaux” [Maison Verreaux]. The species may not occur in Sumatra, but considering the locality is not specific and Tristram thought them to be conspecific with the specimen below I have kept these specimens here. Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Male from “Bantam, Java” [Banten, Java, Indonesia], collected 05/03/1879 by “H. O. Forbes” (Table 1). The collection data matched the specimen listed, as Z. javanica, in Nicholson’s (1882) account of Forbes’ collection, but did not match with Forbes’ (1885) timeline in “Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago” where he wrote that he only departed "Batavia" [Jakarta, Java, Indonesia] on 12/03/1879. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Heleia squamifrons (Sharpe RB, 1892) Forbes listed “squamifrons” on the blank page of Tristram’s printed catalogue. • One unsexed specimen with no collection data recorded. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops ceylonensis Holdsworth EWH, 1872 Tristram (1889a) listed two specimens under “ceylonensis Holdsw.”. This was marked “3” by Forbes. • One male specimen from “Newera Eliya, Ceylon” [Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka] collected 08/10/1868 by “E. Holdsworth” (Table 1). This specimen was probably a paralectotype, although this was not noted by Mees (1957). According to Mees (1957), no type was designated in the original description (Holdsworth 1872), which was evidently based on several specimens, but when Hartert (1928) listed the “type” in Tring Museum (now in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH); Trombone (2013); Catalogue number AMNH 699930), he made it a lectotype. There are two paralectotypes in the Natural History Museum, UK (NHMUK) (Warren and Harrison (1971); none currently in GBIF). It is probably impossible to know which of the type series was figured in the plate accompanying the description (Fig. 1B), but plausibly, the figure may have been based on Tristram’s specimen or a composite of several specimens. Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One female specimen from “Uva, Ceylon” [Uva Province, Sri Lanka] collected 15/10/1875 by “W. V. Legge” (Table 1). Legge (1878–1880) self-published details of his collections and observations of this species. He collected many specimens so it is too speculative to suggest that his plate may have represented this specimen. Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Unsexed specimen with no collection details. Forbes addition to Tristram’s printed catalogue. Destroyed 03/05/1941. 9 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Table 1. Henry Baker Tristram’s suppliers of White-eyes. Full names for Tristram’s suppliers are provided as a starting point for further research. Supplier Occupation/s Notes Ayres, Thomas Settler, freelance collector Emigrated to Natal [South Africa] with his family and from 1855 supplemented his income collecting and preparing specimens for buyers in Europe. Moved to Potchefstroom in 1865, where, besides a few expeditions to other parts of southern Africa, he spent the rest of his life. Published “Notes on the birds of the territory of the Transvaal Republic” from 1869 to 1886 (Plug 2023). Beavan, Robert Cecil Military officer, amateur collector Served ten years in India, including in the Bengal staff corps, from 1857 (Anonymous 1870). Beccari, Odoardo Freelance collector, museum professional Undertook several expeditions to Southeast Asia, mostly to islands in modern-day Indonesia between 1871 and 1876. Later appointed director of the botanical gardens in Florence (Pichi Sermolli and Van Steenis 1979). Bewsher, Charles Edward Businessman, amateur collector Probably a banker in Mauritius. Friend of Edward Newton, colonial secretary of Mauritius and brother of Alfred Newton. Visited the Comoros Islands in 1876 (Newton 1877) and must have visited again in 1879. Brooks, William Edwin Colonial official, amateur collector Civil engineer who worked for the East India Railway. Collected birds from 1868 to 1880 around his home in Etawah [India] (Anonymous 1899). Bruijn, Antonie Augustus Military officer, freelance collector, commercial dealer Dutch navy marine-officer who later operated a family natural history business from Ternate [Indonesia] (Heij 2011). Cowan, William Deans Missionary, amateur collector Scottish clergyman sent by the London Missionary Society to Madagascar from 1874 to 1881 (Cowan 1882). Dresser, Henry Earles Businessman, amateur collector Worked in the City of London, but devoted to ornithology in his free time. Set up a network for swopping specimens with other collectors (McGhie 2017). Everett, Alfred Hart Freelance collector, colonial official Worked for Rajah Brooke of Sarawak [Sarawak, Malaysia], the British North Borneo Company [Sabah, Malaysia] and the Sultan of Brunei and as a collector for Walter Rothschild (Van Steenis-Kruseman 1950). Additionally, a supplier of the Museum directly. Finsch, Friedrich Hermann Otto Museum professional, freelance collector Curator, first in Leiden and then Bremen (now Übersee-Museum Bremen), before resigning in 1878 to take up collecting (including human remains) in Polynesia and Australasia, then returning to his position in Leiden in 1898 (Howes 2018). Forbes, Henry Ogg Freelance collector, museum professional Gave up medical school due to an eye injury and proceeded to “wander” in modern-day Indonesia between 1878 and 1884, collecting with his wife Anna Forbes (Wilson 2021c). Later was appointed curator at Canterbury Museum, New Zealand and director of the Museum in 1894. Forrest, A. E. C. Missionary, amateur collector Part of Bishop Selwyn’s Melanesian mission around 1894 (Armstrong 1900). Lived for nine years on the Solomon Islands (1887–1896). Given names unknown. Gerrard, William Tyrer Freelance collector From Knowsley, Merseyside. Collected in Australia and Africa, before reaching Madagascar in 1865, where he died from yellow fever (Ginsburg 1867). Goldie, Andrew Freelance collector, settler Settled in New Guinea [Papua New Guinea] from 1877 (Gibbney 1972). Gould, John Freelance collector, museum professional, freelance publisher Known as the “bird man”, Gould was the first preserver at the ZSL’s museum in 1827. He ran his own taxidermy business and publishing enterprise with his wife Elizabeth Gould, the artist responsible for many of his works (Tree 1991). Gunn, Gordon Sinclair Royal Navy officer, amateur collector Possible identity of “G. Gunn”. Holdsworth, Edmund William Hunt Colonial official, amateur collector Lived in Sri Lanka from 1865 to 1871, employed by the government to examine pearl banks. Published a catalogue of the birds of Sri Lanka (Holdsworth 1872). Inglis, John Missionary, amateur collector Scottish presbyterian missionary who lived on Aneityum [Vanuatu] from 1852 to 1876 (Parsonson 1990). Kirk, John Physician, colonial official, amateur collector Scottish assistant to David Livingstone on his Zambezi expedition. Appointed administrator in Zanzibar [Tanzania] and consul in the Comoros Islands from 1875 before retiring to England in 1887 (McMullen 2011). Kubary, Johann Stanislaus Professional collector, settler Under contract with Museum Godeffroy to collect in the Pacific between 1869 and 1874. Later settled in Pohnpei [Federated states of Micronesia] (Turley 1967; Scheps 2005). Layard, Edgar Leopold Colonial official, amateur collector Civil servant in Ceylon [Sri Lanka], then moved to South Africa. Published a book of south African birds (Layard 1867). Administered the government of Fiji from 1874 to 1875 and was honorary consul at Nouméa, New Caledonia [France], from 1876. His son, Edgar Leopold Calthrop Layard, was also a collector. Legge, William Vincent Royal Artillery officer, amateur collector Wealthy heir to a large estate in Tasmania [Australia]. He had plenty of time to devote to collecting as a member of a peacetime garrison in Sri Lanka and was secretary of the “Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society”, with a network across the island, in India and in England (Guneratne 2022). Lister, Joseph Jackson Professional collector Attended St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was appointed a demonstrator by Alfred Newton in 1881 and senior lecturer in 1892. During 1887–1888, he served as volunteer naturalist on HMS Egeria’s surveying voyage to Christmas Island [Australia] (Anonymous 1928). 16 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops palpebrosus (Temminck CJ, 1824) Tristram (1889a) listed seven specimens under “palpebrosa Tem.”. Forbes marked the entry “8”. Based on the collection localities, Mees (1957) divided the specimens in Tristram’s listing across four subspecies. • One unsexed specimen added by Forbes, but without any other data. Without further data, this specimen cannot be placed under a subspecies, but it is possible the specimen could be one of two at the ANSP (one from India and one from Pakistan – Catalogue numbers ANSP-ORN 53057 and ANSP-ORN 53058, respectively; Rice (2025)). Otherwise, the specimen was destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops palpebrosus occidentis Ticehurst CB, 1927 • One male specimen from “Umballa” [Ambala, Haryana, India], collected 11/1866 by “R. C. Beavan” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. One specimen, likely to be this subspecies, was found in the Museum (Merseyside County Council 1981) and registered after 1989. • Female specimen from “Depalpoor” [Delalpur, Okara District, Pakistan], collected 09/01/1882 by an unrecorded collector. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1989.66.2359). Figure 1. A. Drawing of Zosterops albogularis by Elizabeth Gould, which may have been the specimen received by Henry Baker Tristram from John Gould or another specimen in the Gould collection in Philadelphia (from Gould (1837)); B. Drawing of Z. ceylonensis by Joseph Smit, based on one specimen or a composite of the type series which included a specimen in Tristram’s collection (from Plate XX in “Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London” 1872); C. Z. prætermissa [= Z. anjuanensis]; D. Z. hovarum [= Z. maderaspatanus maderaspatanus] drawn by Johannes Gerardus Keulemans from specimens in Tristram’s collection (from Plate IX in “Ibis” 1887); E. Z. chlorates [= Z. montanus difficilis (type)]; F. Z. aureiventris [=Z. melanurus buxtoni]; G. Z. griseiventris [= Z. citrinella albiventris], drawn by Smit, based on specimens in Tristram’s collection (from Plate I in “Bulletin of the Liverpool Museums under the City Council” 1899). 17 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops palpebrosus palpebrosus (Temminck CJ, 1824) Fraser listed one specimen “Zosterops madraspatana (Linn)” as entry “1397” in “Catalogue of Birds in the Knowsley Museum”. As the specimen is from Nepal, it was almost certainly Z. p. palpebrosus. • One male specimen from “Nepal” [Nepal] presented by “B. H. Hodgson”. Drawings of this taxon made by Hodgson are held at the NHMUK (Gray 1846), but there is no indication that they could represent the specimen presented to Smith-Stanley. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Mees (1957) retained some of Tristram’s specimens under the nominal subspecies. • One unsexed specimen from “Darjeeling” [Darjeeling, West Bengal, India] collected 12/1879 by “W. E. Brooks” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Three unsexed specimens from “Cawnpore, &c.” [Kanpur, Kanpur Division, India] collected by “W. E. Brooks” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops palpebrosus nilgiriensis Ticehurst CB, 1927 • One unsexed specimen from “Nilghiris” [Nilgiris, India], collected by “H. W. Fox”. I have been unable to trace this supplier. Listed under this taxon by Mees (1957). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops palpebrosus egregius Madarász G, 1911 • One female specimen from “Ceylon” [Sri Lanka], collected 05/1876 by “L. Holden”. I have been unable to trace this supplier. Listed under “egregia” by Mees (1957). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops palpebrosus siamensis Blyth E, 1867 Tristram (1889a) listed six specimens under “siamensis Swinh.”. This was marked “10” by Forbes. Mees (1957) treated the taxon under Z. palpebrosus. • Two female specimens and four male specimens from “Lower Pegu” [Bago District, Myanmar] collected by “E. W. Oates” (Table 1) without a collection date. There are five specimens in the ANSP collected by Oates that may be these specimens (Rice (2025); Catalogue Numbers ANSP-ORN 53069; ANSP-ORN 53070; ANSP-ORN 53071; ANSP-ORN 53072; ANSP-ORN 53073) although these have collection dates 1878 or 1880. Otherwise, the specimens were destroyed 03/05/1941. • Four unsexed specimens with no data provided, added by Forbes. An additional specimen in the ANSP supplied by Tristram, but with no data (Rice 18 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes (2025); Catalogue Number ANSP-ORN 53074), could possibly be one of these specimens. Otherwise, all destroyed 03/05/1941. Five skins were found in the Museum (“Z. palpebrosa?”; Merseyside County Council (1981)) without registration numbers and registered after 1989. According to the labels, these specimens were also all collected by “Mr. Oates” (Table 1). It is possible some of these specimens could have been specimens added to Tristram’s catalogue by Forbes. • Unsexed specimen from “Lower Pegu” [Bago District, Myanmar], collected 15/02/1878. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1989.66.2360). • Unsexed specimen from “Lower Pegu” [Bago District, Myanmar], collected 09/04/1878. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1989.66.2361). • Unsexed specimen from “Lower Pegu” [Bago District, Myanmar], collected 10/04/1878. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1989.66.2362). • Female specimen from “Lower Pegu” [Bago District, Myanmar], collected 05/03/1878. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1989.66.2363). • Female with no collection locality but probably also Bago District, Myanmar, collected 07/02/1880. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1989.66.2364). Zosterops palpebrosus nicobaricus Blyth E, 1845 Tristram (1889a) listed two specimens under “nicobarica Blyth”. Tristram’s listing was recorded under “nicobarica” by Mees (1957). • Two unsexed specimens from “Nicobars” [Nicobar Islands, India], collected 01/1874 and 12/1875 by “R. J. Wimberley” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops meyeni meyeni Bonaparte CLJL, 1850 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “meyeni Bp.”. Mees (1957) placed the taxon under “japonica”. • Unsexed specimen from “Manilla, Philippines” [Manilla, Republic of the Philippines], collected 1883 by “Maitland-Heriot” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops semiflavus Newton E, 1867 Tristram (1889a) listed four specimens under “semiflava E. Newt.”. The entry was marked “4” by Forbes. The species is extinct (Birdlife International 2024b). • Four unsexed specimens from “Marianne, Seychelles” [Marianne Island, Seychelles], collected 1879 by “H. L. Warry” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. 19 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops olivaceus (Linnaeus C, 1766) Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “olivacea (L.)”. The listing was marked with something illegible by Forbes. • One female specimen from “Bourbon Island” [Réunion, France] collected 1874 by “H. H. Slater” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops chloronothos (Vieillot LJP, 1817) Tristram (1889a) listed two specimens under “chloronata (V.)”. Gadow (1884) also used this spelling, but the correct name is Z. chloronothos (see Z. lateralis chloronotus below). • Two unsexed specimens from “Mauritius” [Republic of Mauritius] collected by “A. Clark Smith”. I have been unable to trace this supplier. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops borbonicus (Pennant T, 1781) Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “borbonica (Gm.)”. • One female specimen from “Bourbon Island” [Réunion, France], collected 1874 by “H. H. Slater” (Table 1). Subspecies are geographically restricted within the island, so I am unable to place this specimen under a subspecies. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops mauritianus (Gmelin JF, 1789) Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “mauritiana (Gm.)”. The listing was marked “t” by Forbes. Gmelin gave the scientific name “mauritiana” to a species named earlier in French as “Figuier bleu” by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and in English as “Maurice Warbler” by John Latham, so Buffon and Latham’s specimens would have been the types. It is unclear why Tristram or Forbes thought Tristram’s specimens were types. • Two unsexed specimens from “Mauritius” [Mauritius], collected by “A. C. Smith” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One unsexed specimen from “Mauritius” [Mauritius], collected by “Bewsher” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops abyssinicus abyssinicus Guérin-Méneville FÉ, 1843 Tristram (1889a) listed two specimens under “abyssinica Guér.”. For the specimen from Kikombo, see Z. flavilateralis above. 20 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes • One unsexed specimen from “E. Africa”, collection date and collector not recorded. As there is little collection data, I have left this specimen under Z. abyssinicus but it may have been one of the other taxa from East Africa (see Pearson and Turner (2017); Martins et al. (2020)). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops socotranus Neumann OR, 1908 Six specimens, listed as “Z. abyssinica” by Merseyside County Council (1981), were collected during the British and Liverpool Museums’ expedition to Socotra. Specimens from the Socotra expedition must have been stored separately from the general collection and not in the drawer with the other White-eyes, saving them from destruction. • One female specimen from “Adho Dimellus” [Adhoh di-Melhoh, Socotra, Yemen] collected 04/02/1899. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 31.12.1900.173). • One male specimen from “Sokotra” [Socotra, Yemen] collected 02/02/1899. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 31.12.1900.173a). • One unsexed specimen from “Sokotra” [Socotra, Yemen] collected 05/01/1899. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 31.12.1900.173b). • One female specimen from “Dahamis” [Diksam Plateau, Socotra, Yemen] collected 20/12/1898. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 31.12.1900.173d). • One male specimen from “Dahamis” [Diksam Plateau, Socotra, Yemen] collected 21/12/1898. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 31.12.1900.173e). • One female specimen from “Hadibu Plain” [Hadiboh Plain, Socotra, Yemen] collected 13/12/1898. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 31.12.1900.173g). Zosterops poliogastrus Heuglin MT, 1861 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “poliogaster Heugl.”. • One male specimen from “Transvaal” [north-eastern South Africa], collected by “T. Ayres” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops senegalensis senegalensis Bonaparte CLJL, 1850 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “senegalensis Bp.” in the addenda. See Z. flavilateralis (above) for other specimens previously identified as Z. senegalensis. • One male specimen from “Bathurst, Gambia” [Banjul, The Gambia], collected 12/04/1889 by “P. Rendall” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. 21 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops pallidus Swainson WJ, 1838 Tristram (1889a) listed four specimens under “pallida Sw.”. The listing seems to have been marked “0” by Forbes suggesting he had not found them. However, Forbes listed three specimens of “sundervalli” on the blank page of Tristram’s printed catalogue. AviList Core Team (2025) do not explain the reasoning for not recognising the taxon “sundervalli”. • Two female specimens and one male specimen from “Potchefstroom” [Potchefstroom, North West Province, South Africa] collected 07/1871 by “T. Ayres” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941 if not lost earlier. • One female specimen from “Rustenburg” [Rustenburg, North West Province, South Africa] collected 07/08/1878 by “T. Ayres” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941 if not lost earlier. • Three unsexed specimens of “sundervalli” with no collection data recorded. It is possible these specimens may be some of those listed directly above. The taxon is found in Namibia and South Africa. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops virens capensis Sundevall CJ, 1850 Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “capensis Sundev.”. • One unsexed specimen from “Cape of Good Hope” [Cape of Good Hope, South Africa], collected by “E. L. Layard” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One male specimen from “Natal” [KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa] collected by “T. Ayres” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One unsexed specimen from “Pinetown, Natal” [Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa] collected in 1886 by an unrecorded collector. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops virens virens Sundevall CJ, 1850 Tristram (1889a) listed four specimens under “virens Bp.”. This was marked “4” by Forbes. • Two male specimens from “Natal” [KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa], collected 04/02/1878 by “Trevelyan” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One male specimen from “Rustenburg, Transvaal” [Rustenburg, North West Province, South Africa], collected 02/08/1878 by “T. Ayres” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One unsexed specimen from “Pinetown, Natal” [Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa], collected 1886 by an unrecorded collector. Destroyed 03/05/1941. A mounted specimen, that the Museum purchased from Norwich Castle Museum in 1956, was catalogued (Merseyside County Council 1981) and labelled as “Z. virens”. 22 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes • One unsexed mounted specimen from “Natal” [KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa] presented by “Mrs. Mann”. This was presumably the wife of Dr Robert James Mann, former Superintendent of Education (Mann 1868). The Manns were resident in South Africa from 1857 to 1866. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 45.05.2). Zosterops modestus Newton E, 1867 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen as “modesta E. Newt.”. • One unsexed specimen from “Marianne, Seychelles” [Marianne Island, Seychelles], collected 1879 by “H. L. Warry” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops maderaspatanus anjuanensis Newton E, 1877 Tristram (1889a) listed seven specimens under “anjuanensis E. Newt.”, but the entry was marked “5” by Forbes, with the “TYPE of Z. prætermissa” separated out. • Two unsexed specimens from “Anjuan Island” [Anjouan, Comoros], collected by “Sir J. Kirk” (Table 1). Forbes marked “0” next to this line in Tristram’s catalogue indicating he had not found one or both of these specimens, otherwise both were destroyed 03/05/1941. • One female, one male and two unsexed specimens from “Anjuan Island” [Anjouan, Comoros] collected by “C. Bewsher” (Table 1) in 1879. Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One unsexed specimen from “Anjuan Island” [Anjouan, Comoros], collected in 1879 by “C. Bewsher” (Table 1). This specimen was described as a new species, Z. prætermissa, by Tristram (1887a) (i.e. was the holotype) and the published description included an illustration of the specimen (Fig. 1C). Newton and Newton (1888) wrote in the same journal that the specimen was a “victim of alcohol”, a discoloured example of Z. anjuanensis. Tristram (1889a) placed the specimen under Z. anjuanensis suggesting he agreed. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops maderaspatanus maderaspatanus (Linnaeus C, 1766) Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen as “hovarum Tristr.”. • One unsexed specimen from “Madagascar” [Republic of Madagascar] with no other collection details provided. Tristram’s catalogue listing included “TYPE” and the citation “Ibis, 1887, p. 234, pl. xi. 2” for his description of Z. hovarum (Tristram 1887b). Forbes marked the listing “t” and “unique”. This was the sole specimen (i.e. the holotype) used by Tristram for the description, one in a parcel of birds from Madagascar he had purchased. The description included an illustration (Fig. 1D) of the specimen by Keulemans which Newton and Newton (1888) claimed to be inaccurate. 23 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes The name Z. hovarum does not seem to have been widely used. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Tristram (1889a) listed seven specimens of “madagascariensis (Gm.)”. This was marked “7” by Forbes. It is possible one of the specimens below may have gone to the ANSP (Rice (2025); Catalogue number ANSP-ORN 53063), although there is no collector recorded for the ANSP specimen. • Two unsexed specimens from “Madagascar” [Republic of Madagascar], acquired from “W. D. Cowan” (Table 1). Probably destroyed 03/05/1941. • Five unsexed specimens from “Madagascar” [Republic of Madagascar], acquired from “Gerrard” (Table 1). Probably destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops kirki Shelley GE, 1880 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “kirki Shelley”. • One unsexed specimen from “Grand Comoro” [Grand Comore, Comoros], collected 1878 for “Sir J. Kirk” (Table 1). The species was described by Shelley (Table 1) in a note (dated 09/08/1879) about birds he had recently received from Kirk. Shelley (1880) referred to two specimens (one male and one unsexed). Gadow (1884) cited (but did not list as in the NHMUK collection) an unsexed specimen in “Mus. G. E. Shelley” copying measurements from the description. The NHMUK later claimed to have the (male) “holotype” (Warren and Harrison (1971); Natural History Museum (2025); Catalogue number NHMUK 1895.5.1.2214). Tristram acquired specimens from Shelley and this may have been the other syntype. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops chloris chloris Bonaparte CLJL, 1850 Tristram (1889a) listed specimens under “brunneicauda Salvad.” and “chloris Bp.”. Mees (1961) placed Tristram’s listings under the nominal subspecies. • One male specimen from “Choor” [Kobroor, Aru Islands, Indonesia?], collected 1866 by “von Rosenburg” (Table 1). Tristram’s printed catalogue listing was marked “t” by Forbes indicating he thought the specimen was one referenced by Salvadori (1880) (Table 1) with his publication of the name “bruenneicauda”. This was a “nomen emendatum” for Salvadori’s (1874) earlier name “rufifrons” which was published with only a single referenced specimen, the holotype in the MCSN (Borgo and Doria (2024); Catalogue number MSNG 11536). Salvadori later realised the red colour was due to a blood stain (Gould 1875–1888). Both names were synonymised under Z. chloris by Mees (1961). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Two male specimens from “Groot Banda” [Banda Besar, Maluku, Indonesia], collected 29/04/1868 by “von Rosenburg” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. 24 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops atrifrons atrifrons Wallace AR, 1864 Tristram (1889a) listed a specimen under “atrifrons Wall.”. Mees (1969) placed Tristram’s listing under the nominal subspecies. • One unsexed specimen from “Menado” [Manado, Indonesia], collected 1864, obtained from “Leiden Museum”. Hermann Karl Benjamin von Rosenberg (Table 1) collected at Manado from 19/08/1864 to 06/09/1864. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops minor chrysolaemus Salvadori AT, 1876 Tristram (1889a) listed a single specimen under “chrysolæma Salvad.”. Mees (1961) listed this taxon as Z. atrifrons chrysolaema. • One female specimen from “Arfak, N. Guinea” [Gunung Indon, Province of West Papua, Indonesia] collected 12/05/1875, acquired from “Salvadori” (Table 1). Tristram’s catalogue listing included “TYPE”. The species description by Salvadori (1876) referenced five specimens collected by Beccari (Table 1) and one female collected by Bruijn (Table 1). However, Mees (1961) considered there to be five syntypes, one exchanged with Tristram and the remaining four syntypes (collected by “David, hunter for Beccari”) still at the MCSN (Borgo and Doria 2024). The adult female (syntype) in “Mus. H. B. Tristram” was reported (but not listed as part of the NHMUK collection) by Gadow (1884). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops minor delicatulus Sharpe RB, 1882 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen as “delicatula Sharpe”, but the listing was marked “0” by Forbes suggesting he had not found it. Mees (1961) placed Tristram’s listing under Z. atrifrons delicatula. Forbes also listed a specimen of “frontalis Salv.” on the blank page of Tristram’s printed catalogue. • One unsexed specimen from “Astrolabe Mountains, N. Guinea” [Central Province, Papua New Guinea], collector and date not recorded. Tristram (1889a) listed other specimens from “A. Goldie” (from New Guinea, collected 1878) and “Goldie” from “Astrolabe Mountains” (Hanicophraps albifrons) suggesting this specimen may also be from Andrew Goldie (Table 1) and, if so, potentially part of the type series (i.e. the specimen was a syntype) of Sharpe (1882). There are two extant syntypes at NHMUK (Warren and Harrison (1971); Natural History Museum (2025); Catalogue number of one syntype NHMUK 1882.3.8.82). Specimen in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941 if not lost earlier. • One unsexed specimen “frontalis” from “N. Guinea” [Papua New Guinea] with no other collection data given. This possibly could have been the specimen directly above, which Forbes had marked as “0”. Destroyed 03/05/1941. 25 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops citrinella citrinella Bonaparte CLJL, 1850 Tristram (1889a) listed two specimens under “citrinella Bp.”. The entry for the second specimen was marked “0” by Forbes, but then the “0” was crossed through. Mees (1961) placed this taxon under Z. chloris citrinella. • One female specimen from “Timor” [West Timor, Indonesia] (Müller travelled to the interior from Kupang) and one female specimen from “Banuy, Timor” [Benu?, West Timor, Indonesia] collected 06/1829 by “S. Müller” (Table 1) and acquired from “Leiden Museum” (now Naturalis). Tristram included “TYPE” with his listing and must have thought these specimens were part of the series (i.e. were syntypes) examined by Bonaparte (1850–1865) at Leiden while writing the species description. There are three extant syntypes at Naturalis (Kamminga and Creuwels (2025); Catalogue numbers RMNH.AVES.90780, RMNH. AVES.90083, RMNH.AVES.90779). Specimen in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. Six specimens were donated to the Museum in 1999. The specimens came from Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, but have no collection data. • Six unsexed specimens with no collection data. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 1999.20.299, NML-VZ 1999.20.300, NML-VZ 1999.20.301, NMLVZ 1999.20.302 NML-VZ 1999.20.303, NML-VZ 1999.20.304). Zosterops citrinella albiventris Reichenbach HGL, 1852 Tristram (1889a) listed specimens under “albiventer Reich.” and “griseiventer Sclat”, a name synonymised under Z. chloris albiventris by Mees (1961). • Three unsexed specimens from “Torres Straits” [Torres Straits Islands, Australia], collected by “S. White” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One male specimen from “West Island, Torres Straits” [Torres Straits Islands, Australia], collected 03/10/1881 by “G. Gunn, R.N.” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One female specimen from “Larat, Timor Laut” [Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia], collected 18/09/1882 by “H. O. Forbes” (Table 1). One of 16 specimens collected by Anna Forbes and Henry Ogg Forbes, used by Sclater (1883) for the description of Z. griseiventris (i.e. the specimen was a syntype). Gadow (1884) listed three specimens from the series, including one adult male as “type of the species”. This was not considered lectotypification, with several syntypes later being recorded at the NHMUK (Warren and Harrison (1971); Natural History Museum (2025); Catalogue number of one syntype NHMUK 1883.5.30.66). Robinson (1899) discussed the specimen as “nearly allied to Z. citrinella” and as a “co-type”, with an illustration of the specimen by Smit (Fig. 1G). Destroyed 03/05/1941. 32 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes • One unsexed specimen from “Pelew Island” [Palau] collected by “O. Finsch” (Table 1). Tristram’s listing was marked “t” by Forbes indicating he thought the specimen was a type. According to Hartlaub and Finsch (1868), the species description was based on a single bird from “polynesian collectors” acquired by Johann Cäsar Godeffroy for his museum in Hamburg. Finsch (1875) later wrote that the specimen was acquired by Godeffroy from Captain Alfred Tetens. Tristram purchased birds from both the sale of the collections of Museum Godeffroy in the 1880s and from Finsch, who collected in Polynesia himself between 1879 and 1885 (Table 1). Tristram recorded the specimen in his printed catalogue as from Finsch, not Museum Godeffroy, creating doubt that this specimen was the holotype, although the holotype was reported as unlocated (Mees 1969). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops ponapensis Finsch FHO, 1876 Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “ponapensis Finsch”. Tristram’s listing was placed under “cinerea ponapensis” by Mees (1969). • Two male specimens and one female specimen from “Ponapé Island” [Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia], collected by “T. Kubary” (Table 1). Tristram’s catalogue entry was marked “t” by Forbes indicating he thought the specimens were types. The species was described by Finsch (Table 1), based on four syntypes collected by Kubary and held in Museum Godeffroy (Mees 1969). According to Mees (1969), citing Bolau, two or three of the types were in the Hamburg Museum [of Natural History], but he was unable to find them. Another specimen from Kubary was at Naturalis, but, like Tristram’s specimens, was undated (Kamminga and Creuwels (2025); Catalogue number RMNH.AVES.90781; recorded as a syntype). Tristram did acquire specimens from Museum Godeffroy. The species was figured (Fig. 2B) in “Journal des Museum Godeffroy” which may represent one of these specimens or a composite and there was also a range of measurements given for the specimens (Finsch 1876). Specimens in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops cinereus (Kittlitz FH, 1832) Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “cinerea (Kittl.)”. Listed under “cinerea cinerea” by Mees (1969), but now considered monotypic. • One unsexed specimen from “Kushai Island, Pacific” [Kosrae Island, Federated States of Micronesia], collected 28/02/1880 by “O. Finsch” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops metcalfii metcalfii Tristram HB, 1894 Forbes listed three specimens under “metcalfii types” on the blank page of Tristram’s printed catalogue. In Tristram’s (1894) description of Z. metcalfii, he 33 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes stated that he had two (unsexed) specimens in front of him, which allows some collection data to be assigned. • Two unsexed specimens. The syntypes, according to the description, from “Bugotu” [Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands] collected by Henry Palmer Welchman (Table 1) around 1890. Mees (1961) has “Rev. Dr. Welchman” recorded as the “first collector” (before 1894). One specimen was illustrated (Fig. 3C). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Unsexed specimen, which, as a third specimen, has no type status. The species is endemic to the Solomon Islands, but no data were recorded by Forbes for the specimens. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops novaeguineae novaeguineae Salvadori AT, 1878 Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “novæ-guineæ Salvad.” which was marked “3” by Forbes. These specimens represented two species (see Z. kuehni below) and two subspecies of Z. novaeguineae (see Mees (1961)). Figure 2. A. Drawing of Zosterops natalis by Joseph Smit, based on the type specimens, which included a specimen in Henry Baker Tristram’s collection (from Plate XXVII in “Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London” 1888); B. Drawing of Z. ponapensis, based on specimens in Museum Godeffroy, which included a specimen in Tristram’s collection (from Heft XII in “Journal des Museum Godeffroy” 1876); C. Drawing of Z. rendovæ [= Z. tetiparius paradoxus] by William Matthew Hart, based on the specimen in Tristram’s collection (from “The Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan islands: including many new species recently discovered in Australia” Gould 1875–1888). 34 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes • One male specimen from “Arfak, N. Guinea” [Gunung Indon, Province of West Papua, Indonesia] collected 24/04/1879 by “Brujn” [Bruijn] (Table 1). The date makes this specimen too late to have been part of the type series collected by Bruijn at the same locality (Mees 1961). The adult male in “Mus. H. B. Tristram” was recorded (but not listed as in the NHMUK collection) by Gadow (1884). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops novaeguineae wuroi Mayr E, Rand AL, 1935 • One female specimen from “Aru” [Aru Islands Regency, Indonesia] collected 1866 by “von Rosenburg” (Table 1). AviList Core Team (2025) do not explain the reasoning for not recognising subspecies “aruensis” (of Mees (1953)). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops kuehni Hartert EJO, 1906 Based on the localities, as the specimens would have already been destroyed, Mees (1961) concluded Tristram’s (1889a) specimens of “novæ-guineæ Salvad.” represented two species, with the specimen from Ambon Island placed under this taxon. • One unsexed specimen from “Amboyna” [Ambon Island, Central Maluku Regency, Indonesia] collected 1877 by “Teysman” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops grayi Wallace AR, 1864 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “grayi Wall.”. The taxon was listed by Mees (1961) as monotypic. • One unsexed specimen from “Kei, Bandan” [Kai Islands, Maluku Province, Indonesia], collected 23/07/1873 by “Beccari” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops uropygialis Salvadori AT, 1874 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “uropygialis Salvad.”. Mees (1961) listed the taxon as Zosterops (grayi) uropygialis. • One unsexed specimen from “Little Ke, Moluccas” [Kai Kecil, Indonesia], collected 1866 by “von Rosenburg” (Table1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops tetiparius paradoxus Mees GF, 1955 Tristram (1889a) listed one specimen under “rendovæ Tristr.”. Mees (1961) placed Tristram’s listing under “kulambangrae paradoxa”. 35 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes • One male specimen from “Rendova Island, Solomons” [Rendova Island, Solomon Islands], collected 15/08/1880 by “G. E. Richards, R. N.” (Table 1). Tristram’s (1889a) listing included “TYPE” and “Ibis, 1882, p. 135” and it was marked as “unique” by Forbes. The taxonomic status of this specimen is quite complex. Ramsay (1881), in Sydney, also received specimens from the Solomon Islands from Richards and described a single specimen, from an undeclared island (later determined to be Makira Island), as Tephras olivaceus. Tristram thought that his specimen from Rendova Island was conspecific with T. olivaceus, but better placed in Zosterops, rendering Ramsay’s name a junior secondary homonym of Certhia olivacea Linnaeus. Tristram (1882) cited the specimen in his collection while describing Z. rendovæ as, “sp. nov.” and as a replacement name for T. olivaceus Ramsay (Galbraith 1957). The specimen was figured in the next issue of “Ibis” (Fig. 3D) and by Gould (1875–1888) (Fig. 2C). Gadow (1884) listed Ramsay and Tristram’s names as synonyms, but noted that Salvadori thought the descriptions sufficiently different that they represented distinct species. Gadow (1884) also noted that Salvadori had proposed an alternative replacement name for T. olivaceus from Makira Island. Mees (1955) also concluded that the populations on the two islands were distinct and argued that the population on Makira Island had the valid (albeit confusing, replacement) name, Z. rendovae, the holotype being the specimen of Ramsay, still extant in the Australian Museum (Longmore 1991) and that Tristram’s specimen had no type status. Mees (1955) named the population on Rendova Island, Z. kulambangrae paradoxa. Specimen in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops natalis (Lister JJ, 1889) Tristram (1889a) listed a single specimen as “natalis Lister”. • One female specimen from “Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean” [Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, Australia], collected 30/09/1887 by “J. J. Lister” (Table 1). Tristram’s listing included “CO TYPE” and was marked “t” by Forbes. The species was described by Lister (1889) (in the genus Urospizias) based on specimens he collected at Christmas Island, but without an indication of the size of the type series. It clearly involved adult males, females and immatures and probably this specimen (i.e. it was a syntype). There were three reported extant syntypes each at the NHMUK (Warren and Harrison 1971) and the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge (UMZC) (Benson 1999). The species description includes an illustration (Fig. 2A) that may be a composite of the type series and/or may resemble Tristram’s specimen. Mees (1957) considered Lister the “first collector” based on Tristram’s listing, but considered there to be only one type (the specimen now listed as a syntype; Natural History Museum (2025); Catalogue number NHMUK 1888.8.12.6). Specimen in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. 36 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops conspicillatus conspicillatus (Kittlitz FH, 1833) Forbes listed one specimen under “conspicillata” on the blank page of Tristram’s printed catalogue. The species is extinct (Birdlife International 2023a). • One unsexed specimen with no collection data recorded. The species is endemic to the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam (United States territories). Probably destroyed 03/05/1941. Two skins (as “Z. conspicillata”, Merseyside County Council (1981)) were “found to be unregistered” in 1923. The fact these were stored in the “New Bird Room” and not with the general collection probably saved them from destruction. It is possible one of these could be the specimen above and that Tristram acquired two specimens shortly before the inventory by Forbes and sale of his collection. This does not explain why they never were given “E. Mus. H. B. Tristram” labels or why they were kept separately from the other White-eyes. • One male specimen from Guam [Guam, United States], collected 20/08/1895, collector not recorded. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 25.11.23.5). • One male specimen from Guam [Guam, United States], collected 07/09/1895, collector not recorded. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 25.11.23.5a). Figure 3. A. Zosterops minuta [= Z. minutus]; B. Z. inornata [= Z. inornatus], drawn by Johannes Gerardus Keulemans, based on type specimens in Henry Baker Tristram’s collection (from Plate IV in “Ibis” 1879); C. Z. metcalfii (type); D. Z. rendovæ [= Z. tetiparius paradoxus], drawn by Keulemans, based on specimens in Tristram’s collection (from Plate III in “Ibis” 1894). 37 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops semperi semperi Hartlaub KJG, 1868 Tristram (1889a) listed four specimens under “semperi H. and F.”. The catalogue listing was marked “0” by Forbes suggesting he had not found the specimens. Tristram’s listing was placed under Z. conspicillata semperi by Mees (1969). • Four unsexed specimens from “Pelew Islands” [Palau], collected by “T. Kubary” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941 if not lost earlier. Zosterops semperi owstoni Hartert EJO, 1900 Three specimens of five listed under Z. conspicillatus (Merseyside County Council 1981) and “found to be unregistered” in 1923 are now identified as this taxon. The fact these were stored in the “New Bird Room” and not with the general collection probably saved them from destruction. • One female specimen from “Ruck” [Chuuk Lagoon, Carolina Islands, Federated States of Micronesia], collected 05/03/1896, collector not recorded. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 25.11.23.6). • One male specimen from “Ruck” [Chuuk Lagoon, Carolina Islands, Federated States of Micronesia], collected 13/05/1896, collector not recorded. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 25.11.23.6a). • One female specimen from “Ruck” [Chuuk Lagoon, Carolina Islands, Federated States of Micronesia], collected 01/02/1896, collector not recorded. Extant in the Museum (NML-VZ 25.11.23.6b). Zosterops inornatus Layard EL, 1878 Tristram (1889a) listed two specimens under “inornata Layard”. • One female and one male specimen from “Kepenche, Lifu, Loyaltys” [Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, France], collected 17/08/1878 by “E. L. Layard” (Table 1). Tristram’s listing included “TYPES” and “Ibis, ’78, p.259. Fig. Ibis, ’79, pl. iv. f. 2.”. The species was actually described earlier by Layard (1878). Tristram studied these specimens contributing remarks to Layard’s notes in “Ibis” (the citation in his catalogue; Layard et al. (1878)) and one of the specimens was figured for Tristram (1879a) (Fig. 3B). A syntype in the NHMUK, was listed as “purchased of Canon H B Tristram” (Warren and Harrison (1971); Catalogue number NHMUK 1879.3.5.15). The registration number suggests this was in 1879, so Tristram must have briefly owned all three specimens. Gadow (1884) listed a female (collected 01/1878) and male (collected 08/1878) in the NHMUK. Mees (1969) and Mees and Fisher (1986) contended that all three of these specimens were collected too late to have been types. Two specimens in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. 38 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Zosterops albogularis Gould J, 1837 Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “albigularis Gld.”. The species is extinct (Birdlife International 2024a). • One unsexed specimen from “Norfolk Island” [Norfolk Island, Australia], acquired from “J. Gould” (Table 1). Tristram’s catalogue entry was marked “t” by Forbes, indicating he thought the specimen was a type. Gould (1837) described the species, Z. albogularis, without indicating the number of specimens on which this was based, although his “Synopsis of Birds of Australia and adjacent islands” (Gould 1837–1838), in which the species was figured by Elizabeth Gould (Table 1, Fig. 1A) has also been (incorrectly) cited as the description. According to Mees (1969), misinterpreting Stone and Mathews (1913), the “holotype” (actually syntype) in the Gould collection at the ANSP (Stone 1899), had been lost, but this was not the case (Rice (2025); Catalogue number ANSP-ORN 18257). If Tristram’s specimen was also a syntype, then it was collected around 1832 by Charles Sturt. Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Three unsexed specimens from “Norfolk Island” [Norfolk Island, Australia], including a specimen “d” added to Tristram’s printed catalogue by Forbes, collected in 1887 by “P. H. Metcalfe” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops strenuus Gould J, 1855 Tristram (1889a) listed four specimens under “strenua Gld.”. This was marked “3” by Forbes. The species is extinct (Birdlife International 2023b). Tristram’s listing was placed under “strenua” by Mees (1969). • One female specimen from “Lord Howe’s Isld” [Lord Howe Island, Australia], collection date not given. The specimen was received by Tristram from “H. Seebohm” (Table 1) who acquired it from “E. P. Ramsay” (Table 1). Forbes marked the listing with “t” indicating he or Tristram had thought it was a type. It is unclear why, as Gould’s description was based on one specimen from John MacGillivray, now at the NHMUK (Natural History Museum (2025); Catalogue number NHMUK 1855.10.23.2). Specimen in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. • Three unsexed specimens from Lord Howe Island, Australia, collected 1888 by “E. H. Saunders” (Table 1). Forbes marked the listing “0” indicating that he had not found one of the specimens, but otherwise they were all destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops tenuirostris Gould J, 1837 Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “tenuirostris Gld.”, but this was marked “5” by Forbes. The taxon was retained as a monotypic species by Mees (1969). 39 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes • Two unsexed specimens from “Norfolk Island” [Norfolk Island, Australia], collected in 1884 by “E. L. Layard” (Table 1). The second specimen was “albino”. Destroyed 03/05/1941. • One unsexed specimen from Norfolk Island, Australia, collected in 1887 by “P. H. Metcalfe” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. • Two unsexed specimens added by Forbes with no data. These must have been from Norfolk Island as the species is endemic. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops minutus Layard EL, 1878 Tristram (1889a) listed three specimens under “minuta Layard”. This was marked “3” by Forbes. • One female specimen and one male specimen from “Kepenche, Lifu, Loyaltys” [Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, France], collected 03/09/1877 by “E. L. Layard” (Table 1). Tristram’s listing for these specimens included “TYPES” with a reference to his published remarks (Layard et al. 1878) and the plate where one or a composite of these specimens was figured (Fig. 3A). The species was described by Layard (1878) with no indication of the size of the type series. Mees and Fisher (1986), contrary to Mees (1969), contended that these specimens were actually collected 09/1878 and, therefore, too late to have been types. There were no types listed at the NHMUK (Warren and Harrison 1971). Specimens in the Museum destroyed 03/05/1941. • One female specimen from “Kepenche, Lifu, Loyaltys” [Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, France], collected 28/08/1878 by “E. L. Layard” (Table 1). Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops xanthochroa Gray GR, 1859 Tristram (1889a) listed six specimens under “xanthochroa Gr.”. This was marked “6” by Forbes. The taxon was retained as a monotypic species by Mees (1969). • Four male specimens and two female specimens from “Noumea, & c., N. Caledonia” [Nouméa, New Caledonia, France] collected by “E. L. Layard” (Table 1) with no date recorded. Destroyed 03/05/1941. Zosterops obscura (uncertain status) Forbes listed two specimens under “obscura” on the blank page of Tristram’s printed catalogue. Gadow (1884) listed Z. obscura as a name, based on a “specimen [in the NHMUK] in spirit in bad condition”. Mees (1969) listed “obscura” as having “uncertain status”. The name is not used in the AviList (AviList Core Team 2025). • Two unsexed specimens with no data recorded. Destroyed 03/05/1941. 40 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes Collection summary The catalogue above documents 250 specimens of White-eyes thought to have been acquired by the Museum over its 174-year history. These specimens represented 86 taxa, currently in the genera Zosterops and Heleia. At its greatest extent, the Museum’s collection included around one third of the currently recognised taxa (species/subspecies) within Zosterops. The specimens originated in 29 modern-day countries (Fig. 4), almost all former British, Dutch and French colonies, protectorates or concessions. Most of the specimens were collected between 1850 and 1900. With probably only one exception, Motoyoshi Namiye in Japan, the named suppliers were not locals, but British, Dutch, German and Italian travellers, expatriates and first or later-generation settlers (Table 1). However, most of the specimens will have had unrecorded prior ownership by local hunters, trappers and traders, the actual “hands-on collectors” (Low et al. 2021). Two hundred and eighteen specimens were probably destroyed when the Museum was bombed and burned out in 1941, although 15 might possibly have survived in the ANSP. Nine destroyed specimens (and one intentionally destroyed earlier) had been bequeathed by Smith-Stanley and the rest acquired by the Museum as part of Tristram’s collection in 1896. The destroyed collection included 22 type specimens (Urospizias natalis, Z. chrysolaema, Z. citrinella, Z. difficilis, Z. griseiventris, Z. hovarum, Z. loochooensis, Z. metcalfii, prætermissa, Z. sanctæ-crucis, Z. simplex, Z. subrosea, Z. vatensis) and eleven possible type specimens (Tephras finchii, Z. albogularis, Z. atricapilla, Z. ceylonensis, Z. delicatula, Z. japonicus, Z. kirki, Z. ponapensis, Z. stejnegeri). Specimens from four species that are now extinct (Z. albogularis, Z. conspicillatus, Z. semiflavus, Z. strenuus) were lost to future research. Twelve study skins (Z. c. conspicillatus, Z. emiliae, Z. semperi owstoni, Z. socotranus) stored separately from the general collection survived. There were Figure 4. Source geographical locations, where known, for the specimens of White-eyes acquired by the Museum now known as World Museum over its 174-year history. 41 NHCM 2: 1–52 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.155136 John-James Wilson: World Museum’s ghost and extant White-eyes also nine skins (Z. j. japonicus, Z. lateralis westernensis, Z. palpebrosus occidentis, Z. palpebrosus siamensis), probably relaxed mounts and two mounts (Z. japonicus loochooensis, Z. lateralis) “found in the collection” unregistered, during a period of stocktaking and registration after 1989. It is not clear when these specimens were acquired or became disassociated from their collection data and in some cases whether they could be “lost” skins. Six skins (Z. c. citrinella) and two mounts (Z. citrinella albiventris, Zosterops v. virens) were acquired from other UK museums (Norwich and Blackburn) after 1941. At present, there are 31 extant specimens of White-eyes in the Museum. Acknowledgements Martyn Low (Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore) assisted in accessing literature. Three reviewers provided very helpful comments and Ashley Cooke (World Museum, National Museums Liverpool) gave feedback on an early draft of this article. Additional information Conflict of interest The author has declared that no competing interests exist. Ethical statement No ethical statement was reported. Use of AI No use of AI was reported. Funding No funding was reported. Author contributions The author solely contributed to this work. 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