Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/874

Rh 824 Z S Z S C Scrip/ores Grseci Minores (Frankfort, 1590). There have been several subsequent editions ; that of Reitemeier (Leipsic, 1784) was re- edited by Bekker for Niebuhr s Corpus Scriptorum Historic By- zantinx (Bonn, 1837). Zosimus was translated into French by Cousin in 1678 ; into English, anonymously, in 1684 ; and into German by Seybold and Heyler in 1804-5. ZOSIMUS, bishop of Rome from 18th March 417 to 25th December 418, succeeded Innocent I. and was fol lowed by Boniface I. For his attitude in the Pelagian controversy, see PELAGITJS (vol. xviii. p. 472). He took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the see of Aries over that of Vienne, givin energetic decisions in favour of the former, but without settling the controversy. ZOSTEROPS, 1 originally the scientific name of a genus of birds founded by Vigors and Horsfield (Trans, Linn. Society, xv. p. 235) on an Australian species called by them Z. dorsalis, but subsequently shown to be identical with the Certhia cxrulescens, and also with the Sylvia lateralis, previously described by Latham. Latterly the name has been Anglicized in the same sense, and, whether as a scientific or a vernacular term, applied to a great number of species 2 of little birds which inhabit for the most part the tropical districts of the Old World, from Africa to most of the islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and northwards in Asia through India and China to Amurland and Japan. The birds of this group are mostly of unpretending appearance, the plumage above being generally either mouse-coloured or greenish olive ; but some are sufficiently varied by the white or bright yellow of their throat, breast, or lower parts, and several have the flanks of a more or less lively bay. It is remarkable that several islands are inhabited by two perfectly distinct species, one belonging to the brown and the other to the green section, the former being wholly insular. The greater number of species seem to be confined to single islands, often of very small area, but others have a very wide dis tribution, and much interest has been excited by the undoubted fact that the type-species, Z. cxrulescens, has of late years largely ex tended its range. First described from New South Wales, where it is very plentiful, it had been long known to inhabit all the eastern part of Australia. In 1856 it was noticed by naturalists as occur ring in the South Island of New Zealand, when it became known to the Maories by a name signifying &quot; Stranger,&quot; and to the English settlers as the &quot; Blight-bird,&quot; 3 from its clearing the fruit-trees of a blight by which they had lately been affected. It soon after appeared in the North Island, where it speedily became common, and it has thence not only spread to the Chatham Islands, but, as Sir Walter Buller states (Birds N. Zealand, ed. 2, i. p. 79), it has been met with in considerable numbers 300 miles from land, as though in search of new countries to colonize. Yet this author be lieves it to be indigenous to the west coast of the South Island, and Sir James Hector joins in that opinion. If they be right, it is, however, pretty certain that until the year before mentioned it must have been confined to an extremely small district, and the only assignable cause of its spreading so rapidly, when it did extend its range, is that of a large surplus population unable to find a living at home. It is known to propagate at a high rate of increase, and at times numbers have been found dead, apparently for want of food. In any case it is obvious that this Zosterops must be a compara tively modern settler in New Zealand.* All the species of Zosterops are sociable, consorting in large flocks, which only separate on the approach of the pairing season. They build nests, described as being variously placed sometimes suspended from a horizontal fork and sometimes fixed in an upright crotch and lay (so far as is known) pale blue, spotless eggs, thereby differing wholly from several of the groups of birds to which they have lieen thought allied. Though mainly insectivorous, the birds of this genus will eat fruits of various kinds and in such quantities 1 The derivation is fwcrr^p-r/pos ami &jj, whence the word should be pronounced with all the vowels long. The allusion is to the ring of white feathers round the eyes, which is very conspicuous in many species. 2 In 1883 Mr Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Museum, ix. pp. 146-203) ad mitted 85 species, besides 3 more which he had not been able to examine. 3 By most English-speaking people in various parts of the world the prevalent species of Zosterops is commonly called &quot; White-eye &quot; or &quot; Silver-eye &quot; from the feature before mentioned. 4 Sir W. Buller says that he and Mr Gould were able to pick out New-Zealand examples from a series otherwise made up of Australian specimens. Hence it would seem as if a slight amount of differenti ation had been set up ; but the variation would doubtless have been greater had the species been an ancient colonist. as to be at times injurious. The habits of Z. cserulcsccns have been well described by Sir W. Buller (ut supra), and those of a species peculiar to Ceylon, Z. ceylonensis, by Col. Legge (B. Ceylon, p. 586), while those of the widely-ranging Indian Z. pafywbrosa and of the South-African Z. ca,pcnsis have been succinctly treated by Jerdou (B. India, ii. p. 266) and Mr Layard (B. South Africa, p. 116) re spectively. It is a remarkable and, if capable of explanation, would doubtless be an instructive fact that the largest known species of the genus, Z. albigularis, measuring nearly 6 inches in length, is confined to so small a spot as Norfolk Island, where also another, Z. tcnui- rostri,?, not much less in size, occurs ; while a third, of intermediate stature, Z. strcnua, inhabits the still smaller Lord Howe s Island. A fourth, Z. vatcnsis, but little inferior in bulk, is found on one of the New Hebrides ; but, after these giants of their kind, the rest fall off considerably, being from one-fifth to one-third less in length, and some of the smaller species hardly exceed 3^ inches from end to end. The affinities of the genus Zosterops are by no means clear. Placed by some writers, if not systernatists, with the Paridse. (cf. TITMOUSE), by others among the Meli- phagidx (cf. HONEY-EATER), and again by others with the Nectariniidx (cf. SUNBIRD), the structure of the tongue, as shown by Dr Gadow (Proc. Zool. Society, 1883, pp. G3, 68, pi. xvi. fig. 2), entirely removes it from the first and third, and from most of the forms generally included among the second. On the whole it seems safest to regard the genus, at least provisionally, as the type of a distinct Family Zosteropidse as Families go among Passerine birds; but, whether the Australian genera Melithreptus and Plectrorhamphus (otherwise Plectrorhyncha) should be in cluded under that heading, as has been done, remains to be proved, and in the meanwhile may be reasonably doubted. (A. N.) ZOUCH, RICHARD (c. 1590-1661), a distinguished writer on civil and international law, was born at Anstey, Wiltshire, about the year 1590. He was educated at Winchester and afterwards at Oxford, where he became a fellow of New College in 1609. In 1613 he published a poem entitled The Dove, or Passages of Cosmography, which he dedicated to his relative Edward, Lord Zouch, warden of the Cinque Ports. He was admitted at Doctor s Commons in January 1618, commenced LL.D. in April 1619, and was appointed regius professor of law at Oxford in 1620. In 1625 he became principal of St Alban Hall and chancellor of the diocese of Oxford; in 1641 he was made judge of the High Court of Admiralty. Under the Commonwealth, having submitted to the Parliamentary visitors, he retained his university appointments, though not his judgeship ; this last he resumed at the Restoration, dying soon afterwards at his apartments in Doctor s Commons, London, on 1st March 1661. He published Elcmcnta jurisprudcntiaz (1629), Dcscriptio juris et judicii fcudolis, sccundum consuetudines Mediolani et Normannise, pro introduction ad jurisprudcntiam Anglicanam (1634), Dcscriptio juris et judicii temporalis, sccundum consuetudines fendales ct Nor- mannicas (1636), Dcscriptio juris et judicii ecclesiastici, secundum canones et consuetudines Anglicanas (1636), Descriptions juris et judicii sacri,. . . militaris,. ,, maritimi (1640), Juris ct judicii fccialis sive juris inter gcntes. . . cxplicatio (1650), and Solutio qu&stionis de legati delinquents judice compctcntc (1657). In virtue of the last two he has the distinction of being one of the earliest systematic writers on international law. ZSCHOKKE, JOHANN HEINRICH DANIEL (1771-1848), German author, was born at Magdeburg on 22d March 1771. He was educated at the cloister school of his native place and at the gymnasium of Altstadt. As a youth he spent some time with a company of strolling players, but afterwards he attended the university of Frankfort-on-the- Oder, where, in 1792, he became a privat-docent. He created much sensation by two extravagant plays, Aballino, der grosse Bandit (1794) and Julius von Sassen (1796), the success of which shows how urgent was the need for
 * he elevating influence of the dramatic writings of Goethe

and Schiller. The Prussian Government having declined