FOREST BIRDS
Bird collecting in the Hawaiian forests requires stamina. The collector must be hardy, patient and adventurous, for the pursuit of bird specimens will require all these qualities—and more.
This was particularly true fifty years ago, where much primeval jungle still existed unbroken by cattle trails, imposing an impenetrable thicket to the hunter.
The outer fringes of the forest were open, beginning as they did on the lower and more arid districts where the undergrowth had been thinned by the encroachment of cattle and pigs. These open forests were the collector's paradise.
The widely spaced trees and open glades made a charming scene. The sunlight falls in a tapestry of broken light and shade against which the birds flash in bright colors, with quick flight and cheerful song. The woods are full of sound and movement as the birds in great numbers flit among the branches in search of food.
Moving on into the forest conditions change and become more difficult. Trees increase, the perspective narrows, shadows darken, footing is less secure and moisture, fog and mist increase. The birds seem to reflect their environment. They are perpetually shaking the rain drops from their feathers as they slip about under the protecting canopy of leaves and vines.
Finally the innermost fastnesses of the mountain forest are reached. Here is the continuous drip, drip, drip, of the rain forest; aerial roots, creepers, tangled vines, fallen trees raise the floor of the forest and afford treacherous footing. Moss clothes the trees, ferns cling to rotting trunks, lianes web the branches in tough embrace. Below are mud, mire and bog, and often lava cracks and holes. Nor is this level country. Steep palis drop into abrupt ravines to imperil life and limb. Vagrant drifts of fog forever wind and twist among the spectral trees. Hours may pass without sight of birds and disappointment add further depression to the melancholy scene.
To find a rare bird after days of wet camps, floundering marches and constant peering is rich reward well earned by personal hardihood.
Such well describes what Wilson, Rothschild's collectors, Perkins and Henshaw experienced when studying the Hawaiian birds in the 1880's and 1890's, Perkins especially, as he spent fully four years and a half of time actually in the forests, sometimes confined to his tent for days at a time by the pouring rain.
Since civilization came to the Hawaiian islands the experience of the native perching birds has been tragic. Early voyagers found the birds plentiful on Oahu. In the eighteen nineties the birds of Oahu were much reduced and some were extinct or almost so. They were then still numerous on the other islands. Later this reduction was experienced on the other islands in turn. My conclusions after the survey (1936-1937) were that 25 species had a fair chance of survival while 30 species were gone or likely to become entirely extinct Many reasons have been given for this reduction by writers, but the main reason in most cases in my opinion has been the introduction of diseases such as bird malaria and bird sleeping sickness, wherever human population increased. In 1934 I found that the first had been found in birds in Fiji and the latter in birds in New Zealand. In 1938 Dr. Joseph E. Alicata found pigeon malaria in pigeons in Honolulu ("Hawaii Farm and Home" April 15, 1938). And in 1941 two species of bird malaria were found in introduced birds in the Hawaii National Park. (Report of Paul H. Baldwin to the Superintendent dated August 2, 1941.)
Quoting from my report of December 1937: "Of course it is possible that some of the birds that I think will disappear may hold on for some time and some may even increase again. But judging from past experience I much doubt if any of them will do so or even eventually survive. I think we shall be fortunate if we can save all of the first list and have them increase to anything like their former numbers." An investigation undertaken in the Hawaii National Park under Edward G. Wingate, Superintendent, (a result of this survey) opens up a new prospect of survival for the Hawaiian forest birds.
As a contrast to the condition described I quote from Dr. R. C. L. Perkins: "When I first arrived in Kona the great ohia trees at an elevation of 2,500 feet were a mass of bloom and each of them was literally alive with hordes of crimson apapane and scarlet iiwi, while, continually crossing from the top of one great tree to another, the oo could be seen on the wing sometimes six or eight at a time.
The amakihi was numerous in the same trees but less conspicuous and occasionally one of the long billed Hemignathus. Feeding on the fruit of the ieie could be seen the Hawaiian crow commonly and the ou in great abundance. The picture of diis noisy, active and often quarrelsome assembly of birds many of- them of brilliant colors was one never to be forgotten. After the flowering of the ohia was over the great gathering naturally dispersed, but even then the bird population was very great"
This refers to 1892. Perkins found in 1894 a very different condition. A mild boom in coffee growing had much increased the human population, and the bird population had decreased. In 1891 when the Rodischild expedition was collecting in the same region Perkins here refers to, the birds were very numerous. The ohia trees were not flowering but the ieie vine provided food, not from nectar but from the pulpy bracts of its plentiful flowers.
ORDER PASSERI FORMES
| CORVIDAB | Crow Family |
HAWAIIAN CROW
| Corvus tropicus Gmelin | Plate 8, Fig. 7 |
Hawaiian name: Alala. (This name may have either of two derivations, berth very appropriate. Alala is to cry like a young animal; the call of the crow at times resembles the cry of a child. Also, da, to rise up, and la, the sun, hence, to arise with the sun; the crows made a great noise in the early morning.)
Plumage dark brown, head and tail almost black; bill, legs and feet black; iris brown. Length 21 inches. There is little difference between males and females. Immature birds are a little lighter in color than the adults.and have light blue eyes.
Endemic to the island of Hawaii and there confined to the Kona side from Kau to Puuwaawaa where it was numerous in the eighteen-nineties. It inhabited forest and open country from 1,000 to 8,000 feet elevation. It flew above the tree tops and frequented the vegetation from the highest trees to the ground. Perkins was puzzled to account for its being confined to this area when there was so much additional country suitable to it The bird survey (1936-37) found it still in the Kau and Puuwaawaa forests but in greatly reduced numbers.
In flight their wing movement may be loud and noisy or, again entirely silent as they sail from tree to tree on motionless wings.
When we were in Kona in 1891 the alala was numerous. They went in flocks and were most inquisitive, following the intruder with loud cawing. The least imitation of their cry brought them close in. We saw an amusing instance of this. A tethered horse on the mountain of Hualalai, neighing for company brought a whole flock down around it. This trait has no doubt been exploited to their undoing. In the early 1890's as Kona became more closely settled the farmers, exasperated by the depredations of the crows in feed pens and poultry yards, made war on it, capitalizing on its well known traits of curiosity. By imitating its call many birds would easily be brought to gun. Years later when on the bird survey in 1937, I found a great change. The birds were greatly reduced in numbers. I saw no flocks, only a few scattered individuals. The birds refused to answer my call, perhaps having learned the danger of it, thus proving the "sagacity of the crow."
Their food was originally largely the fleshy flower bracts and ripe fruit of the ieie vine (Freycinetia arborea), the berry of the ohelo and other berries. The ieie was very common and flowered and fruited at different elevations at different seasons, so furnished food most of the year. Later as the country developed and new fruits and livestock were introduced, their food habits changed to include the imported berries and carrion of dead animals.
The antics of the crow furnish no end of entertainment. One, wounded and kept captive proved the source of much interest. It was gentle from the first and did not attempt to bite. His food was meat, raw or cooked, boiled rice, etc. It held the meat with its foot while eating and was not greedy.
Its call is a harsh caw repeated rapidly. A flock calling in unison made a great hubbub. It was the noisest bird in the lower Kona forests at daybreak. The nest is of rough sticks lined with finer material. There seems to be no record of eggs or chicks.
The crow has been accused of robbing other birds' nests but in 1891 it did not affect the small birds to any extent as they were very numerous.
The Hawaiians snared the crow and used the black feathers for kahilis and for dressing idols.
It should have protection for its interest as an endemic bird, and its potential entertainment value.
| MUSCICAPIDAE | Thrush, Warbler and Flycatcher Family |
Muscicapidae is divided into various subfamilies, formerly known as families, such as Turdinae, the thrushes, Sylviinae, the warblers, Muscicapinae, the old world flycatchers.
The Hawaiian Thrushes
The different species of the genus Phaeornis, the Hawaiian thrushes, were common on Hawaii, Kauai, Molokai and Lanai during the 1890's except the small P. palmeri of Kauai, which was rare. The species of Oahu and Maui had entirely disappeared and no specimen of either exists today. On the islands first mentioned the different species have since been much reduced in numbers and have entirely disappeared from localities where formerly they were common. This decrease took place at different times on the different islands.
The species were known by different names on different islands, as kamao, omau, olomao. Perkins thinks these are corruptions of the name Amaui, shortened from Manu-a-Maui, the bird of the demigod Maui. He thought its fine song justified that rank. Dole in 1879 calls it Amaui and Bloxam in 1825 calls it Amauee. Mr. F. Gay informed us that the Kauai thrush had two names but gave us only one, kamao. In regard to a Phaeornis formerly inhabiting Maui Perkins says: "I was assured by a native who was familiar with the birds that years ago the amaui was abundant in the Iao Valley. He particularly mentioned and described the song."
The large species are to a great extent frugivorous, feeding on the fruit and berries of various forest trees and shrubs.
The Kauai, Molokai, Hawaii and Oahu species were fine singers, the small P. palmeri is also a singer but the Lanai bird has only two or three notes which it uses constantly. All except the Molokai and Lanai species like to sing from the topmost branch of a dead tree. Perkins says: "The song of the Hawaii thrush surpasses in beauty that of all other native birds... It will sing at intervals during the whole day, and day after day from the same tree and even from the selfsame bough." He mentions "The wild outburst of song which the Amaui pours forth on the wing as it descends from a lofty tree to lower cover, can hardly fail to strike the attention of anyone who wanders through the forest." When I was with Palmer on Hawaii from September 1891 to February 1892, the amaui of Hawaii did not impress us as a singer as much as the amaui of Kauai; perhaps not so much as to the quality of its song, as that it did not seem so lavish of it as the Kauai species. The members of the genus Phaeornis were of great value as distributors of the forest trees. They swallow the berries whole and scatter the seed over the forest
All the species have a habit of quivering their wings and trembling their bodies when approached or affected by any excitement. Perkins thinks it is from fear, Henshaw thought not. I agree with Henshaw as I particularly noted in 1936 when one was singing on the top of a high dead tree at Kaholuamanu, Kauai. I was well hidden in the brushwood and am sure, the bird could not see me or know of my presence. It trembled its wings between songs.
The native thrush can be distinguished from the imported Hwa-mei (Trocbalopterum canorum), which has penetrated to the depths of the Hawaiian forests, by its flight when disturbed: the imported bird dives down into the brushwood, and the native flies upward into the trees.
HAWAII THRUSH
| Phaeornis obscura obscura (Gmelin) | Plate 8, Fig. 6 |
Hawaiian names: Amaui; Omao. The testimony of Bloxam (1823), Andrews (1865), Dole (1879) and the very old Hawaiian whom Perkins consulted on Kauai afford evidence that the original name of the thrushes on all the islands was Amaui (Manu a Maui), and that the different island names are corruptions of this.
Dusky olive brown on upper parts, lighter on head, quills mostly dark brown, underneath ashy gray; bill black; legs and feet brown. Length 7.25 inches. It is smaller and darker than the Kauai bird. Immature birds are spotted brown and buff on the lighter plumage. There is no record of eggs or chicks.
Endemic to the island of Hawaii It was common in September and October 1891, at about 2,000 feet elevation, not so common at 4,500 and 5,000 feet Less common on the northern slopes of Mauna Kea and in the Kohala mountains, but it was seen wherever there was forest that the native birds still inhabited. In the bird survey of 1936-37 only one was seen. It was calling with the double note used by the Lanai species on the eastern slope of Mauna Kea. Observers since have found it not rare in the vicinity of the Hawaii National Park.
It takes short flights during which its wings make a buzzing sound, not continuous like the wing sound of the op, but in short bursts. It sails out into the open air to catch insects and sometimes to sing a few ecstatic notes. It is a more retiring and a shyer bird than the Kauai species and also more active. Perkins found it very agile in hunting insects. He also found it migrating to parts of the forest where there was an invasion of caterpillars. Its food is largely fruit, berries, insects and caterpillars, also the fleshy flower bracts of the ieie vine. Both Perkins and Henshaw lauded its singing. Perkins noted quite a difference between its singing and that of the Kauai bird, marked by him on one occasion when he went directly from Kauai to Hawaii. He mentioned its singing early in the morning when the stars were still shining. I thought it sang less than the Kauai species.
In September and October 1891 these birds had reared their young, as numbers in the immature spotted plumage were commonly seen. But mere was every sign that they were preparing to raise another brood, pairs mating, gathering leaves for nests and in specimens taken the ovaries were enlarged. One female had a well developed egg in her eggduct. Perkins found an unfinished nest in the Kona forest but was unable to investigate it further, so mere is no additional information on their nesting habits.
LANAI THRUSH
Phaeornis obscura lanaiensis Wilson
Hawaiian name: Probably Amaui, although the present-day people of Lanai know no name for it. Wilson called it Olotnau, which is the name of the' Molokai species.
Wilson described this bird, saying: "It closely resembles P. obscura and P. myadestina, but is smaller in dimensions than either, while the bill is distinctly intermediate in size between those of the two species. The outer pair of tail-feathers alone have very slight white markings at the tip, while the abdomen and under tail-coverts are nearly pure white.
"The length of the wing from the carpal joint is only 3.65 inches, as against 4 in P. obscura."
Endemic to Lanai, and now in danger of extinction. This bird was described and named by Scott B. Wilson in 1891 who included it with the Molokai species. The latter was separated from it in 1908 by Alaflson Bryan. Apart from the differences enumerated by Bryan the fact that the Molokai bird is a fine singer and the Lanai species no singer at all separates them and shows their long isolation from each other.
It inhabited all the present forest, frequenting the low trees and underbrush and, unlike the other species, did not seek the highest dead trees to broadcast its few call notes which replaced the beautiful song of the other thrushes. From 1911 to 1923 this bird was under my observation as I frequently rode the bridle trails of the forest. It was at that time a common bird and its call notes could be heard constantly, especially in the north and south ends of the small Lanai forest. It declined from 1923 when the population of Lanai increased and the town of Lanai City was built. The people brought bird diseases with their poultry and these, evidently carried by mosquitoes, were fatal to the native bird population. I watched its decine till 1931. The few times I have been through the Lanai forest since 1931 the thrushes' call notes have been conspicuously absent. There is little or no hope of this bird's survival as there is of other native Lanai birds. The Lanai forest covers not more than 5,000 acres and rises to only 3,400 feet elevation. Lanai City, a town of several thousand inhabitants is within half a mile of the forest The ancient Hawaiians did not adversely affect the native birds, but the proximity of modern populations is inimical to their well being.
The Lanai thrush is not so tame and is more retiring than the Kauai species and more often heard than seen. Its food is berries and insects. I found a small landshell in one. It evidently nests in the thickest underbrush, probably the ieie vine or the staghorn fern. I made a special search for the nests in 1913 and though I found" some which I suspected were those of this bird there was no proof of it.
MOLOKAI THRUSH
Phaeornis obscura rutha W. A. Bryan
Hawaiian names: Amaui; Olomau.
"Similar to lanthensis but with the throat and breast much grayer; abdomen and under tail-coverts whiter; back darker olive brown; size uniformly a trifle larger; bill average longer and slightly broader."
"Diagnostic Characters. Uniform in color; above brown and hair-brown with an olive wash; with no conspicuous markings on outer tail feathers; size larger..." (Wm, Alansoh Bryan "Some Birds of Molokai.") Bryan gives full descriptions. Average length taken in the flesh by Bryan
8.31 inches.
This species was included by Wilson with the Lanai species in 1891 and separated from it by Bryan in 1908. The fact that the Molokai bird is a fine singer and the Lanai species not a songster helps to justify the separation.
Endemic to Molokai, it was common in the eighteen nineties, but is now in danger of extinction. Perkins found it still inhabiting the outer forests after the other native birds had deserted the locality. Bryan collected specimens in 1907. I saw it that year but it did not seem so numerous as formerly. In the bird survey in 1936 I thought I heard one sing but was not absolutely sure. Donaghho went over a great deal of Molokai forest in 1937 but did not see it. There is a remote chance that it may survive on the elevated plateau between the Pelekunu and Wailau valleys. Increase of population on Molokai may be the cause of its disappearance as well as that of the other Molokai birds. In a month of search over miles of forest trails on Molokai in 1936 I saw but one solitary native bird. Like the Lanai thrush it frequented the low trees and did not sing so much from the highest tree tops as some of the other species.
Its feeding habits are the same as others of the genus, mostly berries and insects.
Little is known of its breeding habits. Perkins says: "... I found two nests of P. lanaiensis on the island of Molokai both fresh and apparently nearly complete. One of these was placed in an ohia tree at the height of about 25 feet from the ground in the midst of a thick forest, the other in the top of a kolea tree (Suttonia) at about the same height, but far below the dense forest, in a locality where no other birds except Pbaeornis existed. In each of these cases a pair of old birds were continually in the vicinity of the nests, which were of simple structure much like those of the Drepanididae, but of much larger size, built of dried leaves, twigs, and rootlets." No eggs or chicks in the down have ever been found of which we have any record.
OAHU THRUSH
Phaeornis obscura oahuensis Wilson
Hawaiian name: Amaui.
Bloxam's description as given by Henshaw: "Length 71/2 inches. Upper parts olive brown, extremities of the feathers much lighter color; tail and wings brown; bill bristled at the base."
This species was endemic to Oahu and inhabited its forests, but has been long extinct. It was collected and described in manuscript by Bloxam who was naturalist on the H. M. S. Blonde when Lord Byron brought the bodies of King Liholiho and Queen Kamamalu to Honolulu from England in 1823.
While in the islands Bloxam collected a number of specimens of Hawaiian birds and among them was the Oahu thrush. The bird became extinct, the specimens were lost, and there is no known specimen existing in the world at this time.
Bloxam and his companions spent a night on the east side of Oahu. After an uncomfortable night they made an early start up the Nuuanu pali back to Honolulu. I quote from page 43 of his diary, May 14,1825: "We soon began to ascend the pass the sun rising at the time amid the chirping of small birds and the melodious notes of a brown thrush, the only songster on the islands." From this we learn that the species was at that time undoubtedly a common bird and like most other species of the genus was a "melodious" songster. It is a great loss to Oahu as this thrush like the Kauai and Molokai species evidently inhabited the outer fringes of the forest and the residents could fully enjoy its beautiful song.
KAUAI THRUSH
Phaeorais obscura myadestina Stejneger
Hawaiian names: Amaui; Kamao; Kamau.
Above dull hair-brown tinged with olive, below gray, lighter on throat and running into white on belly and under tail-coverts. Length in the flesh 9 inches. Immature birds are spotted like those of Hawaii and of other islands.
This thrush was described by Stejneger in 1887 from specimens sent to the Smithsonian Institution by Valdemar Knudsen in the eighteen eighties.
Endemic to Kauai. It was extremely common in 1891 over all the forest region of the island from near sea level on the north side and outer edges of the forest to the mountain tops. In fact it was the most common bird in the Kauai forest at that time. It was still numerous on the forest edges in 1899 when the writer left Kauai. On April 22 of that year I noted that the other birds seemed to have left the outer forest but the kamao was still there singing with great vigor. I visited the Kauai forest in September 1928, April 1931, July and August 1932, when I searched all the outside forests in vain for this bird. Only one individual was seen and it was in the depths of the forest But in January 1936, in a visit to Kaholuamanu, at about 3,700 feet elevation, a region I had not visited since 1899, I found this bird fairly common, with others of the Kauai birds. Walter Donaghho found in 1941 that this bird was still doing well there. The elevation, remoteness from human habitation and less penetration of foreign birds has favored its survival. The Gay and Robinson family who owned a considerable amount of the forest have kept it in primeval condition and this favors the native birds. Kauai offers an exceptional opportunity for perpetuation of some of the remarkable forms of Hawaiian perching birds. If given a certain amount of care these birds might even increase again and spread over the forests at the Kokee camps to be enjoyed by numbers of people.
Its habits are much the same as the Hawaii amaui but it is much tamer. On a dead calm day I noted that the kamao would sit with wings quivering within a few feet of me, turning its head on one side with a look of mild curiosity. Its food is largely berries, like others of the genus. Like nearly all the forest birds it is fond of thefleshyflowerbracts of the ieie vine. It is a beautiful singer and lavish of its song. In January, February and March, 1891 the forests resounded with its melodious notes. At Halemanu the singing of the Phaeornis and other birds used to waken us at daybreak. It has a melancholy call and uses a hissing note at times. Like the Hawaii and Molokai birds it has the habit of rising on the wing into the air, singing a few vigorous notes and then suddenly dropping down into the underbrush. The young birds were troubled with lumps on their feet and sometimes at the corners of the mouth.
SMALL KAUAI THRUSH
| Phaeornis palmeri Rothschild | Plate 8, Figs. 8 & 9 |
Hawaiian name: Puaiohi.
Adult. Upper parts dull brown, head darker, a white mark over the eye; under parts grayish, abdomen white. The type specimen was an immature male, plumage much the same in color and spotted as the young of the larger thrushes, except that it had a light mark over the eye; side feathers of its tail grayish. Its legs and bill longer and more slender in proportion than those of the larger bird. Bill black; legs flesh color. Length in the flesh with curves 7 inches.
This interesting little bird, endemic to Kauai, but very rare, no doubt originally inhabited the whole Kauai forest. Mr. F. Gay had seen it several times. He told Wilson the name puaiohi was better known on the northeast of Kauai and Mr. W. E. H. Deverill of Hanalei was given the name by an old native who said the bird made a hissing noise. In Palmer's first visit to the northwest side of Kauai he secured only one specimen which a rat carried off but Palmer recovered it. From this specimen Rothschild described the species and named it for the collector. Palmer returned twice in 1893 to try to get an adult but failed. Perkins made a thorough study of the species, and collected a fair number of adults, as well as immature birds. He considered it one of the rarest birds he had collected. He had seen as many as 8 in a day but rarely saw half as many. Donaghho is confident that he saw two in 1940 deep in the forest. It has not been seen in the locality where Perkins studied it, for nearly half a century.
Perkins described it as quick in its flight, flying low under the trees and difficult to follow to its destination. The type specimen was very tame. It stood high on its legs, upright on a koa branch and looked more like a flycatcher than a thrush. Perkins found it a bird of the underbrush, though it took to the high trees at times to sing. The type specimen had caterpillars and seeds in its stomach. Perkins found it largely insectivorous, feeding on beetles, spiders and caterpillars. Its special food was a beetle from the koa trees. The alarm note was a squeak, and the song a simple trill like that of the akialoa nukupuu of Hawaii. It sang from the tree tops and also on the wing like the larger thrushes. Indications in the middle of May were that the breeding season was approaching.
MAUI THRUSH
Perkins was sure that there had been a thrush on Maui as already related, but as there is no specimen or record of one ever having been seen it can be stated only as an assumption. If there ever was one it was extinct before the days of collectors on Maui.
The Miller Birds
LAYSAN MILLER BIRD
| Acrocephalus familiaris Rothschild | Plate 8, Fig. 5 |
It was called miller bird because of its fondness for the large "miller" moths. Grayish brown on upper parts, wings and tail darker and under-parts lighter, the little miller bird slipped about among the half dried grass almost unseen. There seemed little difference in color between the sexes or immature. Endemic to Laysan, but now extinct. It was found all over the island where there was vegetation. It hunted its food among the grass and shrubbery. It came into the laboratory through the window and hunted moths among the rafters under the roof while we worked on our specimens. At night by lamp light one hunted under the unsealed roof of Freeth's bedroom while we sat and talked. He told us of the birds breaking test tubes when the laboratory was first used for testing guano. They alighted on the edge and toppled them over. Yet they slipped about with such agility that we found them difficult to catch. But like the rail they were attracted to a pole fishnet held on the ground. They came to it looking for moths and a. turn of the net trapped them.
Its food seemed to be entirely insects, moths, flies and small beetles. It swallowed large moths whole, wings and all. It had a rather nice little song, a deep harsh note a little hard; but it was the end of the breeding season and we may not have heard it at its best.
We found a number of nests. One in the top of a shrub had two eggs. It was 3 inches in diameter with a hollow in the top about 2 inches across and 11/2 deep, built of grass, down and feathers. We found a number of nests with either two eggs or two chicks. The chicks had feathers budding. One swallowed a large moth with ease. One nest was lined with gooney feathers forming a fringe round the edge which nearly covered it Eggs were bluish white with brown spots, thicker at the blunt end,.85x.65 inch. Some of the eggs instead of being spotted had a black blotch on the large end.
Rabbits devastated the vegetation of Laysan and an insectivorous bird could find no sustenance, hence its entire disappearance.
NIHOA MILLER BIRD
Acrocephalus kingi (Wetmore)
Dr. Wetmore characterized this bird as similar to the miller bird of Laysan "but throat, breast and abdomen paler, nearly white; auricular region darker; markings about eye not yellowish; upper surface much darker; bill heavier, averaging very slightly longer; tarsus heavier, slightly longer."
Endemic to Nihoa. This is one of the species missed by the Rothschild expedition through being unable to land on Nihoa. It was not discovered till 1923 when the Bishop Museum expedition landed on the island. Dr. Wetmore discovered the bird and described it, naming it for Lieut. Commander Samuel Wilder King who commanded the expedition, carried on the Minesweeper "Tanager."
The bird had remained there undisturbed for 32 years after we missed it. It is hoped that the island will remain indefinitely in its primeval condition and its flora and fauna neither added to nor diminished by the devastating hand of man. Two endemic land birds, and from 15 to 20 seabirds nest there. The difficulty in landing is effective in keeping it isolated.
The Elepaios
There is one species of the genus Chasiempis in Hawaii with three subspecies, one on each of the islands of Hawaii, Kauai and Oahu, Their ancestors are supposed to have come from the Australian side and thek residence not to have been of long duration compared with the Drepanine family. All are known by the native name elepaio, though on Kauai the immature bird is known as apekepeke. The adult is a brownish bird with white markings, the immature a rufous colored bird. The latter breed and Mr. F. Gay told me he once saw a pair of apekepeke which had a nest and brown chicks in it It is possible that the rufous bird is an aberrant form and that the young resemble it in color. The closely allied white-breasted fantail (Rhipidura) of New Zealand has an aberrant black form. The three species vary little in size, total length varying from 5.5 to 5.75 inches.
1. Kioea
2. Molokai Oo
3. Oahu Oo
4. Kauai Oo
5. Hawaii Oo
1. Iiwi
2. Iiwi
3. Laysan Honeyeater
4. Laysan Honeyeater
5. Young Apapane
6. Adult Apapane
7. Crested Honeyeater
8. Perkins' Mamo
9. Mamo
Why there should be no elepaio on Maui, Molokai or Lanai is not easily explained. It is possible that there had been at one time, as Alanson Bryan found evidence that it had existed on Molokai.
All the forms have habits much the same. Insect and caterpillar feeders, they catch insects on the wing and pick their other food from leaves and branches of the trees which they frequent from the topmost branches to the ground. All have a scolding note and a happy little song.
It was a sacred bird to the old Hawaiians and it was considered a bad omen if it alighted on a tree just felled for canoe building. It is a favorite with people on the islands today because it is the only Hawaiian bird that is almost unaffected by the new conditions that have decimated most of the other species of passerine birds. It is a fearless friendly bird and it is always pleasant to make its acquaintance. However, some I know of near Honolulu have lost their friendly attitude towards human beings. They can often be heard but seldom seen. The organ of the Honolulu Audubon Society is named the "Elepaio" after this bird. The elepaio's nest is the best known of the Hawaiian birds' nests. It is neat and cleverly built Many are made of the soft scales of the tree fern, the pulu of the Hawaiians. In building, the pulu is probably held together by the bird's saliva until bound round the outside with cobweb. I have watched the bird manipulate the cobweb in its bill before placing it on the nest So long as the web is not removed the nest holds together perfectly for many years but if the web is broken it falls to pieces at once.
Since writing the above there has come to my notice an article in the "Science News Letter" of June 19, 1943, p. 393, entitled "On-Edge Nest Holds Eggs Stuck With Natural Glue," describing the nest of the palm swift in Kenya, Africa. The information was obtained by an English ornithologist, R. E. Moreau, working in Kenya under the auspices of the Royal Society of London.
The nest is simply a pad of feathers glued together and to a "nearly vertical frond of a tall palm." The eggs are glued to a narrow ledge at the bottom of the pad. I have long suspected that the New Zealand fantail and the elepaio keep their nests from falling to pieces with glue until they bind them securely round the outside with spider's web.
KAUAI ELEPAIO
| Chasiempis sandwichensis sclateri Ridgway | Plate 8, Fig. 1 |
Upper parts dark gray, rump and upper tail-coverts white, quills and tail feathers blackish brown, outer tail feathers tipped with white, secondary wing feathers with white tips; buff on throat, breast and sides of body. Length 5.59 inches. Throat and forehead of female whiter than in the male. The immature are rufous colored above and lighter below.
Endemic to Kauai, it inhabits all the forest region. It is holding well, as I found at the Kokee camps in 1936 when I set out long before daybreak to investigate a strange bird call that had been brought to my attention. I was surprised to hear the number of birds calling all over the forest before there was a sign of daylight. It was a strange call, so I stayed close to where one was calling, and as the dawn lightened the call changed gradually to the regular weteu of the elepaio. The call sounded so different when it was dark that the C.C.C. men encamped near the forest for over a year were puzzled with it. The call is loud for the size of the bird weteeu or wituii which often precedes a few notes of lively song.
We found several nests, one holding two eggs. The egg was about the size of an English sparrow's with reddish brown spots. One nest, which I saw being built had two tiers added to it, appearing as if a new nest had been built on top of, an old one, but all were new. There was a groove around each tier which added to the deception. The nest measured six inches high and 6 in diameter. Width of depression 1.75, depth 1.5 inches. It was built up from the base of a plain prong and carried up to a leaf which hung nicely over it almost completely covering the opening of the nest, the leaf curving higher in the center. Nests were not high in the trees.
HAWAII ELEPAIO
| Chasiempis sandwichensis sandwichensis (Gmelin) | Plate 8, Fig. 2 |
Though the Hawaii elepaio does not differ greatly from the Kauai bird my notes say it is much finer looking with more white on the wings and abdomen. The immature birds are also much the same as the young on Kauai, but their bills are darker, almost black.
This type subspecies is endemic to the island of Hawaii. Like the Kauai species it frequents all the forests and all the vegetation of the forests. Its habits are also the same: making short flights, sitting perfectly still for an instant, darting out after flying insects and searching over tree limbs and foliage, feeding on insects and caterpillars, readily attracted by an imitation of its call or any chirping sound. Its scolding notes and little song are also like those of the Kauai elepaio. Perkins describes a nest such as the three tiered one I saw on Kauai. Perkins found nests with two eggs. Henshaw saw nests with 3 eggs but as the apapane has a nest not greatly different from that of the elepaio he may have been mistaken, as the apapane lays 3 eggs.
OAHU ELEPAIO
| Chasiempis sandwichensis gayi Wilson | Plate 8, Figs. 3 & 4 |
Endemic to Oahu. Described by Wilson and named after Francis Gay, it differs little in appearance or habits from the other two elepaios. It seems to me not quite so friendly to human beings as the other two. It is holding its own well in the Oahu forests from which so many of the native birds have long disappeared.
Honey Eaters
| MELIPHAGIDAE | Honey-eater Family |
The progenitors of the Meliphagine family in Hawaii were undoubtedly from the Australian side. The genus Acrulocercus has 4 distinct species in the Hawaiian group; one each on Hawaii, Kauai, Oahu and Molokai. They differ in appearance and habits. Some of their notes and actions remind me of the New Zealand tui (Prosthemadera novae zealandia) also a Meliphagine bird with which I am well acquainted.
KAUAI OO
| Acrulocercus braccatus (Cassin) | Plate 9, Fig. 4 |
Hawaiian name: Oo aa. (Aa, a dwarf or small person; hence "the little oo.")
"Adult male. Head black, streaked with a few longitudinal lines of white: rest of the upper surface slaty brown, brightening into russet on the rump and flanks; throat and breast black, each feather barred with white; rest of under surface slaty brown, while the centers of the feathers being grey give it a streaked appearance; wings and tail black, the central pair of feathers of the latter much exceeding the rest in length; axillary tufts (little developed) of a pale greyish buff; edge of the wing pure white; tibiae rich golden yellow; irides light yellow; bill and feet black."
"Adult female. Similar to the male, but with the feathers of the throat much more extensively barred with white, which gives the bird the appearance of having a well defined whitish patch on the throat and upper part of the breast" (Wilson.) Length about 7.75 inches.
An immature bird shot in May 1891 had under parts lighter than the adult; wings and tail glossy black; yellow on legs and white on wings absent; bill and legs lighter than those of the adult; loose skin at base of beak white; iris bluish grey. Some older were in duller plumage than the adults. (From my notes in May 1891.) There is no record of eggs or chicks.
Endemic to Kauai and now in danger of extinction. In 1891 it was a common bird over all the Kauai forests. Its notes could be heard from near sea-level in the valleys on the north side to near the top of Mt Waialeale at over 4,000 feet elevation. It.was still not uncommon when I left Kauai in 1899, but on four visits to the Kauai forests between 1928 and 1936 I failed to hear or see it In 1936 I thought I heard one sing but could not be sure. Had it given its call note I could easily have identified it Donaghho penetrated deep into the Kauai forest in 1940 and is sure that he heard it. He had no previous experience with the Hawaiian oos so may have been mistaken. However, if it still exists no effort should be spared to save what would be the last of the famous Hawaiian oos.
An active bird, quick in movements in hunting food, quick in flight when darting through the trees, but not often flying high above the tree tops like the Hawaii oo. It was the most noisy and most entertaining bird in the Kauai forest both in song and action. When hunting its food in the dry loose bark clinging to the ohia branches its presence was often betrayed by the rustling noise it made. Hopping along the branches with its tail erect over its back or hanging sideways on the trunk with its strong claws and braced with its stiff tail, with a wild keen look in its grayish yellow eyes it was a picture of energy and alertness.
Cockroaches, spiders, millipeds, crickets and other insects and caterpillars taken mostly from under the loose bark were its principal food. Thefleshyflowerbracts of the ieie vine is also in its dietary, as is honey from the flowering ohia and other trees.
The call note was a distinct took took like the Hawaii species but sharper and higher pitched. Its distress cry was a scream like that made by a wounded New Zealand tui. As a singer it was among the finest of the native Hawaiian birds. Both male and female sang, the latter with fewer notes. In March and April there were all the signs that this species was laying or hatching. A nest out of reach in a kukui tree likely belonged to an oo. It appeared to be built of small twigs and grass and was about 5 inches in diameter. It also had the appearance of the nest of the tui. Perkins described similar nests which he judged to be of this bird. In May Mr. Gay and I collected some young birds.
The yellow feathers on the leg were used by the Hawaiians in their feather work. They were smaller and not nearly so fine as. the plumes of the other oos and their gathering was early discontinued.
MOLOKAI OO
Acrulocercus bishopi Rothschild
Other name: Bishop's Oo.
"Adult male. Head and occiput deep black with a very slight metallic gloss, the shafts of the feathers a little paler. Neck, back, breast and abdomen smoky black, with narrow white shaft lines to the feathers. Rump and upper tail-coverts black. Wings and wing-coverts black. Tail black with very narrow white fringes to the tip. The two middle tail feathers long and pointed, ear-coverts with an elongated tuft of golden yellow feathers, these feathers black at lowest base. Axillary tufts bright yellow, shorter than in Mobo nobilis. Under tail-coverts bright yellow. Iris dark brown. Bill and feet black; soles dark flesh color with a yellow tinge. Total length 11 to 11.75 inches. The female is similar in color to the male, but smaller." (Rothschild.)
Endemic to Molokai and in danger of extinction, Bishop's oo was discovered by Palmer in 1892 at Kaluaaha, Molokai. Rothschild named it after Mr. Charles R. Bishop who founded the Bishop Museum. It frequented the upper forest of Molokai. Perkins was able to make a good study of it. He found that the natives used to snare it for its yellow plumes. An old native woman showed him a number of these feathers, some loose and some tied in bundles with olona fiber. He traced marks of the bird lime with which the birds were snared, on the feathers. Members of the Meyer family collected a number of these birds in the 1880's and have some still in their possession. I saw a group of about half a dozen in 1904, the last authentic instance of its being seen. A mutilated specimen of one of these is in the Bishop Museum. Alanson Bryan and I both failed to find it in 1907. I was informed that it frequented the Wailau trail in 1915 but there is no certainty of this. On the bird survey in 1936 I failed to find it and Donaghho has been over a great deal of Molokai trails with the same result. It may still exist on the plateau between the Pelekunu and Wailau gulches.
The group I saw were active birds in the low trees on the gulch wall. They were inquisitive and though they approached me closely, they were timid and continually on the alert, never still an instant, chattering continuously. They stayed for some time before taking fright and leaving.
Its food was largely nectar, preferring honey from the lobelia flowers and even confining itself to certain species of those wonderful plants, according to Perkins. It also took insects. It had a loud seasonal call, "owow, owow-ow" audible at a distance of 3,000 feet. Nothing is known of its nest, eggs or young.
HAWAII OO
| Acrulocercus nobilis (Merrem) | Plate 9, Fig. 5 |
"Adult male. General color black inclining to dull umber on the abdomen, axillary tufts bright yellow; terminal half of the two outer pairs of tail-quills white; middle pair of tail-quills greatly elongated and spirally twisted; irides dark hazel; bill and feet black. Total length 12.5 inches."
"Adult female. Similar in color to the male, but with middle pair of tail feathers not nearly so much elongated or twisted. Total length 9.5 inches." (Wilson.) Immature birds lack the yellow axillary tufts.
Endemic to the island of Hawaii, evidently at one time inhabiting all its forests, but now in danger of extinction. In 1891 and '92 it was common above Kawaaloa in Kona but by 1894 it had disappeared from there. The influx of coffee farmers with their fowls and bird diseases no doubt wiped out this beautiful bird. Henshaw stated that numbers were shot for their plumes and no doubt this helped to destroy it. It survived longer in some other places. In the bird survey 1936-37 the only trace I could find of it was one that had been heard on the slopes of Mauna Loa near the Hawaii National Park about 1934 but had disappeared.
A small lot of 3 males and 2 females were received alive by the Gay and Robinson family in 1892 and released at Makaweli, Kauai. They survived for a time but eventually disappeared.
Above Kawaloa they were very active hopping about in the tree tops in the early morning and evening, often in small companies, and quieter in the heat of the day unless the air was cooled with light showers. Their flight is not rapid. Their wings move quickly with a continuous buzzing, a sound different than that made by other forest birds. They do not have the agility of the Kauai oo in darting through the foliage and under-growth. In flight they keep above the trees perhaps on account of the long unwieldy tail. These birds are very shy, flying off as soon as a human being is sighted. Even the breaking of a twig startles them. We found it difficult to see them when they were sitting quietly in the tree tops. Their food is principally nectar from the ohia flowers and arborescent lobelias; insects and caterpillars are also taken. At the time we collected in Kona they were feeding almost exclusively on the flower bracts of the ieie as were nearly all the birds of the vicinity. Several oos were seen feeding on it and one was shot when so engaged. Their stomachs contained little else.
Their voice is a deep 'took took' with which they answered each other continuously when active. Both males and females have a few notes of song. When singing they seem to have difficulty in producing the notes, ruffling the feathers and jerking the body in their effort. The song of the Hawaii oo is not so loud, vigorous or pleasing as that of the Kauai species. We found it difficult to trace the bird from its call notes. It seemed to be closer than it really was. Henshaw also noticed this. Perkins found it breeding above Kawaloa in September, and caught young birds recently from the nest. There is no record of nests or eggs having been examined.
The beautiful bright yellow axillary plumes were prized for the wonderful feather work of the Hawaiians. The birds were probably snared for this. Whether they were released or killed and eaten is not known. The latter was probably the case. This, however, would not. take even the natural increase. Simple as it might have been to snare some kinds of birds, to snare the oo must have been difficult. I saw at Waimea, Kauai in 1891 a kahili made from the central tail quills of the Hawaii oo.
OAHU OO
| Acrulocercus apicalis Gould | Plate 9, Fig. 3 |
Description (from Gould): "General plumage sooty black; tail brown, all but the two middle feathers largely tipped with white; the two central feathers somewhat narrower than the others, and gradually diminishing in the apical third of their length into fine hairlike or filamentous upturned points; axillae or under surface of the shoulder white; flanks and under tail-coverts bright yellow: bill and legs black. Total length 12 inches, bill 11/2, wing 4, tail 6, tarsi 11/2 inches.
"The plumage of the female is in every respect similar to that of the male; but, as in the honey-eaters of Australia generally;... the body is fully a fourth less in size..." (Wilson.)
Endemic to Oahu and probably extinct. According to Scott B. Wilson in his "Birds of the Sandwich Islands," there are only 5 specimens of the Oahu 00 in museums, two in Germany and three in Great Britain. Two were collected by Captain Dixon in 1787, one by Byron in 1826 and two by Deppe in 1837. According to Sanford B. Dole in his "Synopsis of the Hawaiian Birds," its native name and habits were the same as the Hawaii species. I did not collect on Oahu in the 1890's but Perkins who worked the Oahu forests very thoroughly said that this bird "was almost certainly extinct" If the Oahu oo had as loud a call as those of Hawaii, Kauai and Molokai it would soon betray its presence to anyone traversing the forest to any extent.
KIOEA
| Chaetoptila angustipluma (Peale) | Plate 9, Fig. 1 |
The word kioea means to stand high, as on long legs. The name is descriptive of both the birds which bear it, this one and the curlew.
The upper parts of this bird are mostly brown and the underparts dull white, but it has a variety of markings which are shown in the colored plate. Length 13 inches.
Endemic to the island of Hawaii, but long extinct Pickering and Peale of the United States Exploring Expedition in 1840 collected one specimen of this bird. They found it frequenting the tall flowering trees. Mills collected several specimens about 1859. Dole gave the name kioea for it, and said it inhabited Hawaii and Molokai. The curlew, also called kioea, was then common on Molokai and Dole was probably mistaken in assigning Chaetoptila to that island. There are points of general resemblance between the two birds, such as standing high on their legs which may have caused the natives to call them by the same name. Collectors in the eighteen-nineties found no trace of it Perkins was of the opinion that Chaetoptila arrived on these islands from the Australian side much later than the oo.
Pickering and Peale described it as a lively bird. It was a honeysucker and like the other Hawaiian honeyeaters no doubt also fed on insects and caterpillars. Peale described its call as a loud chuck and said also that it was something of a singer. Nothing is known of its nest, eggs, or young.
Hawaiian Honey-creepers
| DREPANIDIDAE | Hawaiian Honey-creeper Family |
There was considerable confusion in the classification of the birds now recognized as belonging to this family. Some were classed as finches, others as honeyeaters. Through the investigations (1892-1902) of Dr. R. C. L Perkins it was eventually made clear that both the thick-billed species and the long thin-billed and intermediate forms were all descended from one or possibly two honeyeating ancestral species.
Authorities are agreed that most likely the ancestors of this family came originally from the American side. To all appearances they came very early before other land birds, probably when vegetation was. plentiful. No enemies and a plentiful food supply permitted a large increase and caused keen competition among themselves. This competition through ages caused recourse to other sources of food supply and eventual physical adaptation so as to permit easy access to these sources. To enumerate some of the extreme forms: Hemignathus with long beaks and long tongues to extract honey from the deep tubular flowers that prevailed in. the early life of these islands, and to capture grubs and beetles from holes and crevices in bark and wood; Pseudonestor, with a parrot-like bill capable of splitting the hard twigs of the koa (Acacia koa) and extracting hidden grubs; Chloridops with a massive bill and strong jaw-muscles to break the hard dry seeds of the naio (Myoporum). It is on the minute seed germ which this little nut contains that this bird feeds almost exclusively. Rhodacanthis with a strong sharp-edged bill to cut up the large green beans and seed pods of the koa, and large stomach to hold this massive food; Psittacirostra with a hooked bill to scoop out the ripe ieie fruit (Freycinetia) from its upright stem; Loxoides with a hooked bill suitable for opening the beans of the mamane (Sophora). Such birds as Pseudonestor and Chloridops had an inexhaustable food supply inaccessible to other birds of the Hawaiian forests, or even of birds closely allied to them.
There are 17 genera and 43 species and subspecies listed in the Drepanine family, which Perkins has divided into two groups, the Melanodrepanine group comprising those genera which are basically black or which have an appreciable admixture of black in their plumage, and the Chlorodrepanine group, comprising the genera which are basically yellow or green, or at least completely lacking black. This matter of coloration is not the only distinction between the groups, but it is the most conspicuous. The "five genera of the Melanodrepanine branch are discussed first.
MAMO
| Drepanis pacifica (Gmelin) | Plate 10, Fig. 9 |
Cook's naturalists referred to the Mamo as Hqohoo, probably confusing it with the Oo, also a black bird with some yellow feathers.
Rothschild describes the adult male that Palmer obtained as "Black with a slight gloss. Rump and upper tail-coverts, the shoulders, the ridge of the wing, the outer part of the under wing-coverts, thighs and under tail-coverts all of a beautiful rich yellow, but paler on the ridges of the wing..." Then he goes on with details of description and gives "Total length in the flesh as 9.375, in the skin 8 inches." (Measurements of lengths are explained in the Preface.)
Endemic to the island of Hawaii. This remarkable bird is probably now extinct. It likely inhabited all the Hawaii forests, since it is known to have occurred in both the leeward and windward forests as well as in the Kohala mountains. Mills collected some about 1859. It was not an extremely rare bird up to the eighteen-eighties, Perkins had.a record that in 1880 one man bagged with a shotgun as many as 12 in one day. It was then being shot for its feathers. Perkins was of the opinion that in the 1890's specimens of this bird might have been obtained under favorable circumstances.
Palmer secured one specimen in 1892, the only one taken since Mills secured his and none have been taken since. Henshaw saw a small group in 1899. He described their flight as "Not rapid, but was smooth and well sustained." It reminded him of the cuckoo in flight. Palmer's specimen as recorded by Wolstenholme was apparently quite tame. He said it roosted on a stick in the tent He gave me a photo of it perched on his finger. This bird was taken deep in the Olaa forest where Wolstenholme and the Hawaiians were in camp. The old bird catcher Ahulu recognized the call of the bird across a valley. His imitation of the call brought the bird. He set a snare by the flower of a haha (Clermontia) growing on the trunk of a tree fern. Ahulu called the bird to the snare and caught it.
The mamo was a nectar feeding bird, but whether it ate insects also is not known. The captive bird sucked sugar and water eagerly. The old bird catchers gave Perkins an exhibition of its call, a single rather long and plaintive note. It was so like the call of the nearly related Molokai mamo, with which he was well acquainted that he had no doubt of its correctness.
The mamo is famed for having furnished the most beautiful feathers for the Hawaiian feather work. The birds were caught with birdlime and also with the noose. A bird so tame and coming readily to call could easily be caught by the simple method the native boys on Kauai used in supplying the naturalist Townsend (1835) with specimens. Hidden by bushes bearing tubular flowers the boy held up a flower between finger and thumb and as the honeyeating bird dipped its bill into it he closed his finger on the flower and captured the bird by the bill. It is not known whether the birds were killed or released after the choice feathers were removed. The inference is that they were killed and eaten. The Hawaiians were eager for meat and the birds, if denuded of the yellow feathers covering so much of their bodies would surely succumb, especially in the wet and cold upper forests. But with the mamo as with the oo, the natural increase must have been very great when the forests were in their natural state and before changed conditions had reduced the numbers of the birds. The yearly take of birds at that time would, I think, have been little drain on their numbers. Introduced diseases and the shotgun brought the changed conditions which probably account for their extinction.
Nothing is known of the breeding habits of the mamo.
PERKINS' MAMO
| Drepanis funerea Newton | Plate 10, Fig. 8 |
Hawaiian names: Oo-nuku-umu; Hoa. The first name, recorded by Perkins, means "the oo with the sucking beak." The other name was recorded much later by W. A. Bryan.
Discovered in 1893 by Perkins, who obtained the name from an old native woman in Pelekunu valley. She knew of the birds and showed him yellow feathers from the Molokai oo. From its dark color the natives would naturally consider it a species of oo.
Lusterless black, white on quill feathers, bill long and curved, upper mandible longer than lower, legs and beak black, beak longer in the male. Length about 8 inches.
Endemic to Molokai and in danger of extinction. Perkins collected a series of skins, and private collectors later depleted the district above Pelekunu valley where Perkins had collected. Neither Alanson Bryan nor I could find any there in 1907, but Bryan secured 3 male specimens at Moanui farther round the island to the east. The survey in 1936 found only a rumor that one had been seen in the Wailau valley a few years before. Donaghho traversed much of the Molokai forest in 1937 and found no trace of it. But even the common birds were gone then. Possibly it may still exist on the plateau between Wailau and Pelekunu valleys. This plateau is the only hope of refuge for survival of the Molokai native forest birds.
It was a bird of the underbrush and low forest trees. Its food was mostly honey from certain arborescent species of lobelioids. Perkins thought that it alone sufficed to fertilize these lobelias. Botanists have since disagreed with this. However, his specimens, and Bryan's also, had their heads smeared with the pollen of this flower. Perkins found no insect remains in their stomachs. One, probing into wet moss, was evidently after water as when examined it had no signs of insects in it. The young may be fed on caterpillars, and insects but of this there is no proof.
It was very inquisitive and approached closely, following the intruder, making it more difficult to collect good specimens than if it kept to a distance.
Perkins said it had a' loud cry of extraordinary clearness and also a milder call note which he likened to the call of the mamo. This Bryan described as boa and said also that the natives gave him hoa as the name of the bird.
Perkins considered it one of the rarest birds he collected, and he made a thorough study of it He saw as many as 7 in one day, when not equipped for bird collecting, yet he might go for several days searching for it and not see one.
IIWI
| Vestiaria coccinea (Forster) | Plate 10, Figs. 1 & 2 |
Other Hawaiian names: Iwi; Iawi; Iiwipolena or Ahikipolena or shortened to Polena; Olokele (Kauai). A greenish-yellow form, the young black-spotted, is known as Iiwipopolo.
With bright scarlet body, black wings and tail, and rose colored, inch long, curved bill, the iiwi is one of the most beautiful of the Hawaiian native birds. Its length is about 5.75 inches. I quote from my journal in February and March 1891, at Kaholuamanu, Kauai: "The iiwi and apapane are so numerous that in their ceaseless activity, flying backwards and forwards their wings keep up a continual buzz. There will be half a dozen in a tree at a time, flitting from flower to flower and hopping about among the twigs and leaves in search of caterpillars. The iiwi also frequents the small Pelea trees whose flowers are borne on the trunks and branches where the birds, then very tame, can be watched from a few feet. The forest would be very monotonous were it not for these beautiful birds darting about, chasing one another, and running nimbly along the branches. Their scarlet bodies and black wings show up to great advantage. The apapane are about as plentiful but keep more to the tree tops." It seemed to me that the ohia honey had a stimulating effect as these birds were full of life and gaiety when frequenting the profusely blooming ohia trees.
Endemic to the main group they spread over all the forested islands from the mountain tops to the seashore wherever forests reached. It flew high in the air and frequented the flowering tree tops, dropping down to sip from the lower nectar bearing trees and shrubs. In high winds numbers were blown down to the lowlands and died there. Originally when the islands were forested to the seashore, they could work their way back. They followed the flowering of the ohia trees at the different elevations and gathered in great numbers at these places. Originally extremely numerous it is now greatly reduced. In 1923 it was fairly common on Lanai but diminished year by year till, by 1929, it had disappeared entirely. In the survey (1935-37) it was found on Kauai, Hawaii and Maui but none were seen on Molokai or Lanai. It will hold out perhaps indefinitely, in the larger and Higher forests but only on Kauai is there a possibility of its increasing to the former spectacular numbers. If some protection from introduced diseases is afforded the Kauai native forest birds, I believe this can be accomplished.
The iiwi is very fond of nectar from flowers but feeds largely on caterpillars. It has a number of calls; a sharp chirp when feeding and a longer call note. It may have different songs, Perkins calls the song harsh, strained and discordant My journal says, when I heard it first in January 1891, "like the creaking of a wheelbarrow but a little more musical." Henshaw says: "The disconnected notes of its rather sweet song may be heard coming all day from the tall ohias when in blossom." Both Perkins and I noticed that in a great assembly of birds the medley of sounds produced by hundreds of apapane, iiwi and other birds produced a pleasing chorus and cheerful effect When singing in the low trees where it can be viewed closely, it seems to have difficulty in producing its notes judging by the contortions of its neck and body, and its notes then are certainly harsh and discordant.
Perkins describes the nest as of neither a compact or neat appearance, built of dry stems, leaves and rootlets and some of the skeletonized capsules of the poha, generally in tall ohia trees.
The iiwi furnished feathers for the Hawaiian feather work. The bird was caught by the various devices used for the mamo: birdlime, snares and other means.
CRESTED HONEYEATER
| Palmeria dolei (Wilson) | Plate 10, Fig. 7 |
Hawaiian name: Akohekohe.
The colored plate shows the variety of colors and the odd crest on the forehead and occiput of this remarkable bird. Length about 7 inches.
Discovered by Wilson in the late. 1880's, but he secured only a very young specimen on Maui. Palmer collected adults and from these Rothschild established the genus Palmeria. Wilson had previously described the bird as Himatione dolei after Judge Sanford Ballard Dole, later President of the Hawaiian Provisional Government. The name thus becomes Palmeria dolei. Dole's "Synopsis of the Birds of the Hawaiian Islands" was the only publication on the Hawaiian birds available when we arrived in Honolulu in December 1890. Perkins studied this species on Maui and Molokai. I never saw the bird in life. Alanson Bryan collecting on Molokai in 1907 saw a small group on the wing but did not secure a specimen. It has not been seen since. The only hope for it on Molokai is that some may be on the plateau already mentioned or in the higher and deeper forests of Maul
Perkins found it localized in habitat but abundant where it did occur. He thought that it, as well as other birds, abandoned regions which cattle had invaded, but it was gone from parts of the Molokai forest long before cattle penetrated it In fact large areas of forest on Molokai have never been entered by cattle and the birds are practically all gone. In 1936 I tramped many miles of new boggy but passable trails through forest where cattle had never entered and saw no signs of native birds.
Perkins describes its habits as being like those of the apapane. Its food was largely nectar from the ohia blossoms, though it also fed on caterpillars. When feeding on honey it, like the other honey eating birds, was very aggressive towards the smaller honeysucking species and repeatedly drove them from the tree. It responded readily to an imitation of its call, a simple clear whistle, and Perkins records calling as many as 9 adult birds into one tree. He says its song is different from that of all the other birds but has notes resembling some of those of both the iiwi and apapane, and says: "Its song like that of the iiwi appears to be forced out with difficulty and lacks all beauty."
They appeared to be preparing to nest in February and March. Nothing is known of the nest or eggs.
APAPANE
| Himatione sanguinea (Gmelin) | Plate 10, Figs. 5 & 6 |
Other Hawaiian names: Akapane; Akakani.
Akakane was the name given us for the Loxops of Hawaii.
Length about 5.25 inches. Body crimson, wings and tail black, as also bill and legs. Belly and under tail-coverts white; this feature serving to distinguish it from the iiwi when flying overhead. The iiwi has no white on the under parts of its body. First plumage is brown which gradually changes to the adult crimson color. Small chicks have pink skins and bunches of fluffy brownish down on their backs; as they get older the light pink skins become almost red.
Endemic to the main group where it inhabited all the forested islands from the highest level of forest to its lowest. It was extremely numerous, and often was carried by high winds to the lowlands and sometimes even to Niihau. At one time a group was evidently carried to Laysan Island where it became modified and formed a new species. The bird survey (1935-37) found it in fair numbers on Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and Kauai, a few on Lanai and but one seen on Molokai, the only native bird seen on the island at that time.
It is a strongflier,vibrating its wings loudly in flight. It flies in small companies high in the air from one part of the forest to another. The birds are very active in the tree tops, hopping from flower to flower sipping honey and stopping but a few seconds at each, or hunting through the foliage after insects and caterpillars which, with nectar, form its principal food.
1. Oahu Amakihi
2. Anianiau
3. Oahu Amakihi—Male
4. Kauai Amakihi
5. Hawaii Amakihi
6. Ula-ai-haivanc
1. Molokai Creeper—Adult female
2. Molokai Creeper—Adult male
3. Oahu Creeper
4. Kauai Creeper
5. Olive Green Creeper
6. Green Solitaire
7. Lanai Creeper
It has several calls and a sprightly song not particularly musical but cheerful; however, in continuous repetition by one bird it becomes monotonous. When large numbers are calling and singing together with other birds the effect is pleasing.
On Lanai in 1913-14 I made a special study of a number of nests of this bird. They were cleverly placed so as to be hidden from above as a protection from owls which are numerous and hunt over the open country contiguous to the forest "and which sometimes hunt over the tree tops. The nests are generally built in the scrubby ohia trees (Metro-sideros) 7 to 10 feet from the ground. They are about 4 by 6 inches in size, the bowl at the top 2 inches across and 2 deep. The. material on the outside is a layer of grass, moss or twigs and a layer of pulu (soft down from the tree fern) and generally lined with fine grass. The nests are soft and not at all compact. Several had 3 eggs or 3 chicks and one had young nearly fledged. The birds deserted one nest, perhaps because I bent a twig over it the better to protect it, and the chicks died. Despite the careful protection by the birds several were robbed, apparently by owls, as the bottoms of the nests were pulled up showing the chicks had held on to them. Eggs, three in a clutch.69x5 inch, white with streaky reddish brown spots thicker in a band round the large end. The feathers of the apapane were used to some extent in the Hawaiian feather work but were not especially favored as they did not show well at a distance.
There is every prospect that this bird will continue to survive but will not likely attain the numbers of the past unless in some of the most favorable forests.
LAYSAN HONEYEATER
| Himatione freethi Rothschild | Plate 10, Figs. 3 & 4 |
Adult about the size and shape of an apapane but the color of the body duller, wings and tail brown. Iris brown; bill and legs black. Immature light brownish color.
There seems to be some confusion concerning the correct spelling of the specific name of the bird. Rothschild very evidently intended to name it in honor of Captain Freeth, but in his original description, published in 1892, he misspelled the name, in its latinized form, as fraithii. In publishing the "Avifauna of Laysan" in 1893, the spelling was altered in the text to the correct form, freethi, although the original spelling was retained on the plate, which was apparently printed before the text The amended form of the name was followed by Wilson (1899) and Perkins (1903), but Henshaw (1902) kept the original form. Bryan's list (1942) used the spelling fraithi. I employ here the form intended by the author of the name.
Endemic to the island of Laysan; it frequented the grass tops, portulaca and other plants fringing the lagoon. It was not so common as the other land birds, yet not scarce. It is now quite extinct. The last three were seen by Wetmore when he arrived on the island in 1923. They disappeared in a sand storm which lasted for 3 days after his arrival. The island, formerly nearly all covered with vegetation, had been rendered a sandy desert by rabbits.
It was not so fearless and tame as the other birds but could be caught with a handnet. It was a weak, low flier. A number gathered round a small isolated house where barrels caught rain water from the roof. The birds drank from leaks in the barrels. They seemed to miss water more than the other land birds. Perhaps their residence on the island was not so long as that of the other birds, and they had not become adapted to the meager supply of water. The only natural water on the island was a seep of brackish water where the land birds may have been able to obtain a little moisture. There were of course occasional showers and there may at times have been a little dew. In the case of heavy rains large areas of the interior were under water as related by Dr. A. M. Bailey in the "Audubon Magazine" May-June 1942.
Its food was insects, caterpillars and honey from flowers. Like the Other insect eating birds it liked the large "miller" moths. When eating them it held them in its claw (Freeth said always the left claw). One I watched picked away the body of the moth a bit at a time rejecting the wings and other hard parts. We saw it visiting the flowers of the Nohu (Tributes) and Pohuehue (Ipomoea) and probably other morning glories. It had a sweet little song of a few notes. We found no nests. The wrecking of Laysan Island with the, loss of its interesting land birds is one of the most deplorable examples of failure to protect to come under my observation. It is hoped that when Laysan recovers and -war clouds disappear it will be given the care it deserves; but two of its interesting little birds are gone forever. The rich potentialities of Laysan, if given a chance to develop would make it a show place.
ULA-AI-HAWANE
| Ciridops anna (Dole) | Plate 11, Fig. 6 |
The name means the red bird that feeds on the hawane (the native Hawaiian palm, Pritchardia spp.)
Total length about 4.25 inches. The black crown and gray neck of this bird is a striking feature, and a glimpse of a bird's head and neck showing this characteristic color made me almost sure I saw one in 1937. That was on the Kahua ditch trail which passes through the region where the Hawaiian procured the specimen for Palmer. It seems unlikely that I saw this bird but it is possible.
Endemic to the island of Hawaii. Extremely rare and perhaps extinct. According to Perkins it was known to have inhabited both the Kona and Hilo districts as well as the Kohala mountains. He quotes Emerson to the effect that it was "wild and shy, a great fighter, a bird very rarely taken by the hunter." Specimens were taken by Mills about 1859. Dole described the species from these and mistaking it for a finch called it Fringitta anna. It has since been found to be a drepanid and its generic name changed to Ciridops but it still retains the specific name Dole gave it As indicated by its Hawaiian name the bird was reputed to feed on the fruit of the hawane palm (Pritcbardia).
We were fortunate in obtaining one specimen of this bird but were disappointed in not securing more. We had information that the ula-aihawane and the mamo at one time frequented the interior of the forest of the Kohala mountains. We cut our way through the primeval wet forest to a considerable depth but' failed to find any but the common birds. On leaving Kohala Palmer offered a reward for specimens of these birds. Enterprising natives penetrated deeper into the forest and secured an immature ula-ai-hawane. They reported that there were more in the locality where the specimen was obtained. Palmer then organized a party of five and we spent an arduous week penetrating the boggy mountain top till from the tree tops we could see Mauna Kea and part of the Waimea plains. We judged we had topped the watershed as the streams ran in two directions, one towards Waipio and the other towards Kohala.
We shot an akepa (Loxops) and then found that the natives had confused this bird with the ula-ai-hawane, hence had given the information that there were more of the latter there. There were plenty of akepa to be found but none of the bird we wanted. We searched through groves of its food plant, the hawane palm but without success, although there were flowers as well as fruit on these trees, and we shot an amakihi when it was visiting the flowers. The weather broke and we were compelled to relinquish our hunt Palmer offered a reward for more specimens but with no results.
The Amakihis
"With [the genus] Chlorodrepanis we pass to the second series of genera which may be called Chlorodrepanine as opposed to the Melanodrepanine section, the latter containing all those genera which have previously been dealt with." (Perkins.)
Perkins was of the opinion that there were only three well marked species of this genus, two on Kauai and one inhabiting Hawaii, Molokai, Maui, Oahu and Lanai. I have great faith in Perkins' conclusions as he made a long study of the Hawaiian birds in their natural haunts, dissected them, made specimens of them and studied prepared specimens of them in the museums. He studied them with the keen perception of an entomologist who has to consider minute points in the structure of his specimens. This wide experience gave him a marked advantage over all others in the study of Hawaiian birds. No one ever did or ever can study the Hawaiian birds as did Dr. R. C. L. Perkins. As one of his closest friends here in Hawaii I know well the thoroughness of his investigations.
The various species of Chlorodrepanis carry the odor that it is a distinctive feature in so many of this family, to a degree greater than most of the others.
The different species of Chlorodrepanis differ little in size, their total length varying from 4.2 to 4.75 inches. C. parva is the smallest.
KAUAI AMAKIHI
| Chlorodrepanis virens stejnegeri (Wilson) | Plate 11, Fig. 4 |
Other Hawaiian name: Aalawi (Kihikihi, or simply kihi, means curved, and refers to the curved bill of the bird. The word is used in the names of several birds with curved bills.)
Its bright green upper parts, yellowish under parts and heavier bill distinguish it from the other small birds of the Kauai forest. I noted particularly in skinning that the muscles on the back of its head were more strongly developed than in the other Kauai birds and its skull more heavily built. This development was evidently occasioned by its habit of digging in the bark of trees to a greater extent than any of the other Kauai birds; or other amakihis. Total length 4.6 inches.
Endemic to Kauai In 1891 it occurred in great numbers inhabiting all of the Kauai forest Its numbers have been considerably diminished but is still one of the most common birds of that island. There is every prospect of it continuing indefinitely.
It is strong on the wing and on its feet. I was surprised at the way it could dash into a bush and alight without slackening speed at all. When feeding in the ohia flowers its action is different from that of the iiwi and apapane which pass over the flowers quickly. The amakihi is much more leisurely in its movements when feeding. It probes in the crevices of the bark and hunts in the folds of leaves. It will persevere for a considerable time in obtaining something from a folded leaf, a chrysalis or spider's egg-sac. It even dug into rotten wood somewhat as does the akialoa nukupuu of Hawaii
Insects, grubs, caterpillars, honey from flowers, berries and fruit, all form its dietary. On January 29, 1891, they and other birds were very numerous on the koa flowers. There is little or no honey in the koa blossoms so they were either getting insects or eating the plentiful pollen.
It has a distinctive call note tseet which it repeats at intervals when feeding or on the wing. During the mating season they sing a little song.
The laying season is about March. They were singing at that time and one specimen had a well developed egg in its egg channel. We did not find nests then nor did I at any later period.
HAWAII AMAKIHI
| Chlorodrepanis virens virens (Gmelin) | Plate 11, Fig. 5 |
The adult of this bird seemed to me to be much more yellow than the Kauai species, and had a smaller bill. The young birds in duller plumage are difficult to tell from the young of the Hawaii creeper (Paroreomyza) and we, who had collected only on Kauai, at first sometimes confused both, while alive, with the young of C. parva. C. parva is now known to be restricted to Kauai, but the birds of Hawaii were quite unknown to us at that time, and there was little literature to guide us.
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii It was numerous in all its forests, but I doubt if it is now as numerous as the amakihi of Kauai. I noted its habits, like those of the Kauai species, of stopping suddenly in full flight, of searching dead leaves for food and of visiting a great variety of flowers. I think this search is more for insects attracted by honey or pollen than for honey alone. The time taken over each flower is needless for honey only. I saw it going from flower to flower of the ieie. It was evidently after insects as the male stems of the ieie are laden with pollen and no doubt attracted some favorite insect. If feeding on the flower bracts it could easily satisfy itself in one visit. As its bill is too short to reach the bottom of the tubular flowers of the lobelias it pierces them at the bottom to obtain honey or insects.
There were many immature birds in Kona in September. Their habit of searching dead leaves for food made it difficult to tell when they were gathering leaves for a nest.
MAUI AMAKIHI
Chlorodrepanis virens wilsoni Rothschild
Endemic to Maui. I did not collect on Maui till February 1928. In the forest at Olinda it was fairly common at mat time and I collected some specimens for the Bishop Museum under special permit.
Its habits did not differ from the amakihi of the other islands so far as I could see. Perkins notes of it that "the amakihi here when at its best often sings much more loudly than at other times."
MOLOKAI AMAKIHI
Chlorodrepanis virens kalaana
Endemic on Molokai, but differing little, if at all, from the species of Maui, Lanai and Oahu.
LAN AI AMAKIHI
Chlorodrepanis virens chloroides (Wilson)
Endemic to Lanai. This bird was very common in the Lanai forest and was still there a few years ago but very much reduced in numbers since the pineapple plantation was started with its large influx of population. Its chances of survival are slight as is true of all the Lanai native forest birds. The only explanation for this is the introduction of new bird diseases. I lived on Lanai for 20 years and saw the birds increasing, if anything, till 1923 when the town was built. Widi the speedy increase of population and greater numbers of domestic fowls the birds began to decrease perceptibly. The native forest is small, of no considerable elevation, and in close proximity to the settlement, offering no protection through isolation. These same conditions pertain to Molokai in slightly different degrees.
I saw only one nest of the amakihi on Lanai. That was on April 13, 1913, in a small tree about. 12 feet from the ground. I lightly shook the tree and two or three young birds flew out of the nest. They stopped close at hand and I had a good look at one. A female amakihi approached and by scolding and fluttering about tried to lure me from the nest. Later I took down the nest. It overhung the steep valley side but was hot carefully hidden. The larger trees above it hid it from the owls. This nest was quite different from the apapane's, built almost entirely of grass and fiber of the ieie vine and lined with rootlets and some sheep's wool. About 3.75 inches wide by 3.5 deep, the hollow at the top 1.75 inches.
The characteristic odor of the Drepanine birds was strong in this species. A bird flying past to windward left the odor plainly perceptible in the air.
OAHU AMAKIHI
| Chlorodrepanis virens chloris (Cabanis) | Plate 11, Fig. 3 |
Endemic to Oahu. The bird survey (1935-37) found this bird not uncommon in the Oahu forests and it seems likely that it will survive indefinitely. I noted the habit of its going in small companies and of searching in folds of dead leaves for food.
ANIANIAU
| Chlorodrepanis parva (Stejneger) | Plate 11, Fig. 2 |
Nianiau means straight, probably referring to the bird's straight bill. On Kauai the birds were sometimes confused with young amakihi under the name Alawi or Aalawi. We were given the name Anauanii for the bird. It seems appropriate, referring to the bird's habit of eating in small bites or nibbles.
Endemic to Kauai. This lovely little bird has upper surface bright yellowish olive green, underneath bright olive yellow. It is as dainty as its colors are pretty. It is one of the smallest of Hawaiian forest birds, about 4Vi inches in length. In the 1890's it was extremely numerous all over the Kauai forest. It is still common in some localities but observers who are not acquainted with the Kauai birds might easily over-estimate its numbers by mistaking the young amakihi for it
My notes say: "Their graceful movements and neat form with their yellow plumage places them among the prettiest birds in the Kauai forest" A bright lively bird, quicker in movement than Loxops. When larger birds chased it out of the flowering trees, it would as quickly return, sometimes almost at the tail of its pursuer. It generally gathers its insect food among the twigs and leaves but sometimes in the loose bark. It is very fond of visiting the koa flowers but we do not know what it gets there. From notes taken in February, 1891: "The koas came into flower about a week-ago and are now about gone. The amakihi and anauanii had a lively time amongst them for a few days." It has a very sweet little song "befitting such a bird," my notes say. There were signs that the breeding season was approaching, (in March 1891). There seems to be no data on its nest, eggs or young.
GREEN SOLITAIRE
| Viridonia sagittirostris Rothschild | Plate 12, Fig. 6 |
This species was apparently quite unrecognized by the Hawaiians, who had no name for it.
Bright olive green on upper parts, underparts yellowish green; wings and tail with green edges to the feathers. Length about 6.5 inches. Perkins' diary says: "I note that the maxilla is dark above and pale bluish white along the basal half, the legs and feet are slate color, the iris brown. There is a distinct crop or dilation of the oesophagus and the tongue is strictly drepanine as in the amakihi."
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii, "its habitat is limited to the dense forest a few miles in extent upon either side of the Wailuku River, at ah elevation of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet" (Henshaw.) Palmer had discovered it in 1892 but Perkins did not know where he had collected it and was surprised to find it in December 1895 on the Wailuku river where he heard it call and thought it might be a mamo. He later spent two weeks in that excessively wet region and became well acquainted with the bird. It was rare but he saw as many as 12 one morning.
Perkins found it fed chiefly on crickets and a small caterpillar from the dry ieie stems. He describes its call as low and rather plaintive but it can be heard from a long way off, somewhat resembling an old native's imitation of the mamo call. He also says its song is very like that of the amakihi but it is louder and sometimes at the end there are one or two very powerful notes. The song is drepanine but distinct from the others.
The Creepers
There are 7 species and subspecies in the genus Paroreomyza. Henshaw referred to Paroreomyza mana, the species of the Island of Hawaii, as the Olive Green Creeper, so I shall designate all of them as creepers. The species vary in color but not greatly in habits. Most of them gather their food from the bark of trees.
KAUAI CREEPER
| Paroreomyza bairdi bairdi (Stejneger) | Plate 12, Fig. 4 |
Hawaiian names: Akikiki; Akikeke. The name is probably an imitation of its quick chirp.
"Adult. Above hair-brown, tinged with pale green on rump and on margin of tail feathers. Below olive buff, nearly white on chin and throat, and tinged with pale yellow on the breast and abdomen. Lores whitish. Length about 4.45 inches." (Henshaw.) It is a little larger than the Hawaii species and has quite a different appearance, caused by its inch-long body feathers and white about the neck and face.
Endemic to Kauai, this interesting little bird's habitat is in the cold wet mountain tops from 3,000 feet upwards. We found few at lower levels but they were common at Kaholuamanu at over 4,000 feet elevation. At this elevation they went in small flocks accompanied by the ouholowai, the Loxops of Kauai. The akikiki hunts in the bark and Loxops in the foliage. The constant chipping of the akikiki attracted other birds and the groups reminded one of Bates' description of the birds in one part of the Amazon region in South America, where he found different species in numbers foraging in company. Following Francis Gay's advice, to find certain rare species we would follow the chipping of the akikiki and it helped us considerably. None were seen for certain in the survey, but Donaghho reported seeing it in 1941.
Their flights are short from tree to tree. They are active birds running under and over the trunks and branches and were equally adept in either position. Their food is principally insects and larvae which they obtain through a careful search of the crevices of bark and tree. They also take honey from the ohia flowers.
The chipping cry is very distinctive and though common to others of the genus it is more conspicuous in the Kauai bird. We found a large tapeworm in one.
OLIVE-GREEN CREEPER
| Paroreomyza bairdi mana (Wilson) | Plate 12, Fig. 5 |
No Hawaiian name has been learned for this species.
Light green above, below green with yellowish tinge, wings and tail brown. Bill straight Length about 4.5 inches.
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii, this little bird is inconspicuous compared with the species of Kauai. It was quite numerous in some parts of Hawaii and very scarce in others for no apparent reason. It is said to be still present though I did not see it in the survey. It does not go in small flocks like the Kauai bird, nor gather other species with it. It is quiet and inquisitive; if one stays still it comes quite close to make an examination. We found it difficult to distinguish from the amakihi but for its straight beak.
At the time we were in Kona it was feeding as were most other birds, on the ieie flower. Elsewhere it had insects and grubs in the stomach. Some had little but insects' eggs.
I noted that it seldom made the chipping chirp of the Kauai bird, but I heard one singing a very sweet little song.
I know of no observation having been made on its breeding habits.
PERKINS' CREEPER
Paroreomyza perkinsi (Rothschild)
This species was named by Rothschild from a single male specimen we collected at Puulehua, Kona, Hawaii, on September 25, 1891. Rothschild considered it to be intermediate between the creeper (Paroreomyza mana) and the Hawaii amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens), and thought that it might be a hybrid. Perkins thought it might be a sport.
MOLOKAI CREEPER
| Paroreomyza maculata flammea (Wilson) | Plate 12, Figs. 1 & 2 |
Hawaiian name: Kakawabie. The name translates literally "to break up firewood," referring to the chipping call of the bird.
The male is mostly scarlet in shades varying on different parts. The female is brown with some scarlet markings. The immature males are in every stage between the female and the adult male. They are beautiful birds. Length about 5 inches.
Endemic to Molokai, and in danger of extinction, in the 1890's this beautiful bird was found in the upper boggy forest. I collected a series of specimens in 1907 when it was still quite common. It chirped like the Kauai bird and could be attracted by an imitation of the call and, being inquisitive, it fearlessly approached the human intruder. Their habit of searching in the bark was similar to that of the Kauai species. The survey disclosed no signs of it nor was its familiar chipping heard.
Perkins saw a young male being fed by its parent on June 10, 1893. He had previously found a young one with the down of the nestling still on it Alanson Bryan described nests from one seen in May 1907 as follows: "It is made up of moss neatly woven together, and measures 4 inches in diameter by 2.75 deep. The interior is lined with blackish rootlike stems of dead moss and a few fibers from disintegrated ieie leaves. The bowl is just over 2.00 inches across by 1.5 deep."
There is little hope of saving this interesting and beautiful bird, unless it has a refuge, as I hope it has, with other Molokai native birds on the elevated plateau between Wailau and Pelekunu Valleys.
LANAI CREEPER
| Paroreomyza maculata montana (Wilson) | Plate 12, Fig. 7 |
Hawaiian name: Alauwahio, or shortened to Alauwi or Lauwi.
Endemic to Lanai, and almost certain of complete extinction. The creeper of Lanai was yellowish green on upper parts, lemon yellow on under parts. Length about 5 inches. It was a neat little bird, and appeared to be smaller than the Kauai species.
It was formerly common in all parts of the Lanai forest, but has declined in late years with the other Lanai birds. A pair was seen in March 1937 but it had been scarce for some time before that There seems little or no chance of its survival and it will probably share the fate that is inevitably in store for most, if not all, of the Lanai native birds. We cannot blame the introduction of foreign wild birds for this as almost no perching birds have been introduced to Lanai for a long time.
The habits of this bird are very like those of the other species: short flights, finding its food in the bark of tree trunks and branches, greeting the stranger with its chipping call, but using it more sparingly than the Kauai or Molokai species; Perkins described its song as vigorous and rather pretty. He saw it rise straight up in the air singing as some of the Hawaiian thrushes do. He collected young birds in July 1894. On April 19, 1913,1 found a nest that had been blown out of a tree which I thought.belonged to the Lanai creeper. It was different from the other nests I had examined. It was a neat little ball built compactly of very fine grass stems and skeleton leaves alternately, 1.75 inches across the bowl,.75 inch deep, sides.5 thick. Other nests were more ragged on the outside.
MAUI CREEPER
Paroreomyza maculata newtoni (Rothschild)
Hawaiian name: Alauwahio.
1 thought this bird greener and less yellow than the Lanai species. Length about 5 inches. Endemic to Maui. I collected a few specimens for the Bishop Museum in February 1928. It was then not uncommon, and I saw a small group on the Kula pipeline trail in 1936, so it would seem it has a good chance of survival. Henshaw mentions its frequenting the underbrush more than the Hawaii species. He also mentions one singing, evidently to lure him away from its young which he was observing. Perkins noticed this trait of singing under excitement in the Lanai species.
OAHU CREEPER
| Paroreomyza maculata maculata (Cabanis) | Plate 12, Fig. 3 |
Hawaiian name: Alauwahio.
Yellow and olive green are the principal colors of the Oahu creeper.
Endemic to Oahu. It was fairly common in the 1.890's. I tramped many miles of newly made C.C.C. trails on Oahu in 1935 and did not see a single individual but other observers report having seen it since, commonly, thus promising a prospect of survival.
Its habits are much the same as those of the species of Maui and Lanai.
The Akepas
The interesting genus Loxops has 4 species; one each on Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and Kauai Perkins found the natives gave the name Akepa for the species on all islands' but Kauai Akepa means sprightly and he cites the different species of Loxops as lively. I have studied only the Loxops of Kauai and Hawaii and I recognize them in the thick foliage where they feed by their deliberate gliding movement. They did not seem to me as sprightly as the iiwi and apapane. Perkins undoubtedly saw them under circumstances different to what I did. There are a number of instances of this diversity of opinion in skilled observers, through studying the birds at different seasons and under different conditions.
A special feature of this genus which distinguishes it from all other members of the family is a tendency to a crossing of the tips of the mandibles, the lower mandible having its point turned to one side or the other, causing the bird to be cross billed. Henshaw was at a loss to account for this. Perkins is positive it is to facilitate working in the leaf buds for caterpillars and insects hiding there. My theory is its usefulness for removing scale insects from the leaves of the trees. Possibly it serves both purposes. I have found the shells of scale insects in their stomachs. They are essentially insect feeders and are seldom seen to visit flowers and then they may be after insects attracted by the honey. But they still retain the honeysucker's tongue, and some of the species may still feed on honey to some extent. I shall use the name Akepa as a common name for all the species.
HAWAII AKEPA
| Loxops coccinea coccinea (Gmelin) | Plate 13, Fig. 3 |
Other Hawaiian names: Akakane; Akepeuie.
Adult males are scarlet, about 5 inches in length. Adult female is a greenish color above, lighter below with a yellow spot on the breast One was slate green with a yellow tinge across the face below the eyes; a bright yellow patch on the breast and up on the throat, and very slightly smaller than the male. Immature male, greenish color above and light below, with gray across the face and around the eyes. Immature female, brownish green above, lighter below with a light yellow patch on the breast.
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii. We found it common in all the forests of that island. At Puulehua, Kona, in September 1891, at 4,000 feet we could get only males and a few immature individuals. At Honaunau some miles farther to the south and at a higher elevation we found females more plentiful than males. In February 1892, at the foot of the upper peak of Hualalai we found males and females. On the slopes of Mauna Kea about 5,000 to 6,000 feet elevation it was more plentiful than anywhere else. In the Kohala mountains our native hunters considered it a variety of the ulaaihawane. The survey (1936-37) found it in the vicinity of the Hawaii National Park and on the southern slopes of Mauna Kea. On June 2, 1943, Dr. V. G. Clark who had been recently on a trip to the top of Mauna Loa brought me a dessicated body of a small bird. On a ledge of the crater at 13,010 feet elevation there was a pool of water, frozen at the time, and around it were 7 dead birds. I was able to identify it as a female of this species by its crossed bill and what remained of its colors. The birds had evidently been blown 20 miles up the mountain side from the forest below in a windstorm and had taken refuge in the crater. Their habit of flying high into the air at mating time may have been the cause of this.
Seldom still, but deliberate in its movements, slipping through the foliage of the trees with nothing like the sprightliness of the iiwi and apapane which it resembles to some extent in color, once found there was little difficulty in securing the specimen. It stayed in one tree for a considerable time and took but a short flight when it left. Its movements and longer forked tail served to distinguish it in the foliage. At Honaunau when hunting these birds there was danger of stepping into one of the tree holes which abounded in the smooth pahoehoe (lava). These tree molds where the molten lava had flowed round the trunk of a standing tree were sometimes a foot or more in diameter and several feet deep. They were often fringed with ferns which completely hid them from view. It was necessary to keep one's eyes on the bird as it moved about in the tree and little attention could be given to the ground surface.
Insects, caterpillars and spiders furnished most of their food. These were mostly gathered from the foliage. Male and female call to each other with a low single and double chirp. A twittering sound is made when flocking with the young and at mating time. Two or three together will fly up into the air spirally, twittering constantly. Perkins describes the song as a short trill and says that the female sings more musically, but still more softly than the male.
The young were in first plumage at Puulehua in September 1891. On the northern slopes of Mauna Kea above Mana they seemed to be mating in February 1892. Nothing is known of nest or eggs.
MAUI AKEPA
| Loxops coccinea ochracea Rothschild | Plate 13, Figs. 2 & 5 |
Other names: Ochraceus or Maui Akepeuie.
The male is mostly dark orange in color, lighter below; the female dark green above and light yellow below. Length about 4.5 inches. Perkins remarks on the different forms of plumage in the adult males: "these being distinctly red or yellow during or previous to the nesting season... There are, however, individuals more or less intermediate between the two forms. The most deeply colored examples approach very closely to
L. rufa of Oahu."
Endemic to Maui. Though I made a careful search I did not find this bird in February 1928, nor did I see anything of it on the survey when on Maui in July 1936. However, it may still hold out in the large Maui forests.
The feeding habits are much the same as the other species; also their call notes and song which Perkins describes as a short trill and the call note as a low kee-wit. He said they rarely sang, but were constantly calling to each other.
On April 4, 1894, he collected a female ready to lay and "saw a pair on the ground getting material for their nest, the female pulling off the soft down covering the just springing fronds of the fern." On April 9, 1894, he saw a pair sporting on the wing, "rising up till they appeared mere specks in the sky. They did not descend for several minutes."
OAHU AKEPA
| Loxops coccinea rufa (Bloxam) | Plate 13, Fig. 1 |
Other name: Oahu Akepeuie.
Adult male. Upper parts rufous orange with brownish wash; wings blackish brown, greenish orange on outer webs; below reddish orange, lighter on abdomen and lower tail coverts; length about 4.37 inches.
In a paper by Perkins included with his journal and referring to 1893 he says: "Before I left Waialua, Palmer and Wolstenholme, Lord Rothschild's collectors, arrived there and shared the mountain house with me and afterwards from there camped far back in the mountains. I stayed with them for some time in their tent and was present with Wolstenholme when he shot the male Loxops rufa which had not been obtained since Lord Byron's visit in 1825. There was a second specimen in company with this, probably a female, but though we heard it we did not get in sight of it, nor of any other specimen. After I left... Palmer and his colleague again camped for some time where the Loxops occurred but failed to find another. Some 10 years later I came across a pair far back in the forest in the Wahiawa district, but I had no gun with me at the time." It has not been repotted since but may still survive in the more remote forest.
KAUAI AKEPA
| Loxops coccinea caeruleirostris (Wilson) | Plate 13, Fig. 4 |
Other Hawaiian names: Ou-holowai; Akekee.
Upper parts greenish olive, a yellow spot on the crown; beneath, yellow; wings and tail brown. There is much variety in the coloring of individual birds, but unlike the other species in the genus there is little difference between males and females. Length about 4.5 inches.
Endemic to Kauai. We found this very interesting bird generally in company with the Kauai creeper but did not see it at as low an elevation as the latter. Their natural habitat is between 4,000 and 5,000 feet elevation but in stormy weather they come down to about 3,500 feet. They are generally in small flocks, slipping around quietly among the leaves in the foliage of the tall ohias. Their peculiar movements and longish forked tail easily identify them. Their flights are short, from tree to tree. I am not sure that I saw it in the survey but it has been reported as seen since. It stands a good chance of survival as it keeps above the range of disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Its food is insects, caterpillars, spiders' eggs, and scale insects. On March 25, 1891, we took 7 specimens from flocks above the Kalalau Valley. All were males but two and one of the females had ovaries enlarged.
The Akialoas and Nukupuus
The genus Hemignathus has two distinct species, H. obscurus and H. lucidus. The former are larger birds, have longer bills and not so much difference between the upper and lower mandibles. All gather their food to a great extent from the bark and wood of the forest trees. The two forms were known as Akialoa on Hawaii and the name Nukupuu was used on Kauai for the smaller form. I shall use akialoa as a common name for H. obscurus and nukupuu for H. lucidus.
HAWAII AKIALOA
| Hemignathus obscurus obscurus (Gmelin) | Plate 14, Fig. 4 |
The Hawaiian names Akialoa or Akihialoa have reference to the long curved bill of the bird.
1. Oahu Akepa
2. Maui Akepa, male, red form
3. Hawaii Akepa, adult male
4. Kauai Akepa
5. Maui Akepa
1. Hawaii Nukupuu, female
2. Oahu Nukupuu
3. Oahu Akialoa
4. Hawaii Akialoa
5. Kauai Akialoa
6. Lanai Akialoa
7. Kauai. Nukupuu
(All the birds pictured in this plate are undoubtedly descended from a common ancestor species.)
Upper parts bright olive green, duller on under parts, wings and tail brown, length about 6.5 inches. Bill of male 1.85, of female 1.45 (Wilson).
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii, it is in danger of extinction. In 1891 it was well distributed over the Hawaii forests and common in Kona. My note on November 11, 1891: "At Nawina akialoa were plentiful sucking honey from the flowers of the low Clermontia trees." We saw them on the Kohala side of the Kohala mountains. In 1936 and 1937 I did not see any in Kau, Kona or the Kohala mountains and as far as I know none have been seen since.
The Hawaii akialoa gains its food by probing in crevices in the bark of trees, sometimes breaking off pieces of bark and dropping them. It probes under lichens and in the bases of the leaves of the ieie vine; it is also fond of honey from the flowering trees. Perkins remarks that when taking honey it seemed to sing more freely than at other times and conjectured whether the honey thet had the effect of stimulating singing. I have particularly noticed that when the iiwi and apapane were feeding on honey from the ohias they were exceedingly sprightly and wondered if it had a stimulating effect on them. With many birds going over and over the flowers each will get but a small taste from each flower and that might perhaps cause their haste. But again the birds at this time seem care-free and dash about and sing joyously when not seeking food. It is really a scene of merry-making; a scene I fear will never be replaced. Henshaw never saw this bird taking honey from flowers and he never heard it sing. This is another instance of trained observers seeing birds differently under different conditions. The Hawaii akialoa is easily distinguished by its call note.
Perkins once saw this bird's nest. "It was built towards the extremity of one of the largest spreading branches of a koa, placed above a fork and well concealed. It contained only one young one, and that already able to fly, while a second one was seen sitting on the branch outside the nest, with the old birds... The nest so far as I could get sight of it appeared to be quite similar in form to that of Chloroirepanis, but was better concealed among the lichens covering the branch and these appeared to be partly used in its construction. This nest was found at the end of June and in the same district (Kona) many young birds were noticed at the time being fed by the parents."
LANAI AKIALOA
| Hemignathus obscurus lanaiensis Rothschild | Plate 14, Fig. 6 |
Male: back olivaceous green, breast dirty yellow, under tail-coverts cream white. The one Perkins saw was more yellow. The bird I saw which may have been this species was very yellow. Rothschild's male was probably a young bird. Female: color dull grayish olive, more yellowish on abdomen.
Endemic to Lanai. Probably extinct Wolstenholme collected several specimens of this bird for the Rothschild collection. Perkins saw one which he describes: "This was evidently an adult male, in plumage appearing quite brightly yellow and unlike any of the figures in Mr. Rothschild's work. There is no doubt that his figure of an adult bird, if really taken from an adult, represents the bird in its non-breeding stage, for in January, when I saw the one above mentioned all the adult birds on Lanai were in the fullest and most perfect plumage. It was extremely tame, at times not 5 yards distant, hunting for insects along the trunk and large limbs of a partly fallen ohia, which over-hung the edge of a precipitous cliff. As, if killed, it would necessarily have fallen in the brush far below or have lodged in the shrubbery on the side of the cliff, being without a dog I forbore to shoot, and when after some minutes it flew off, it was seen no more. It is probable that this was really a survivor of the brood obtained by Mr. Rothschild's collectors, since Wolstenholme, who discovered the bird, informed me that all of their specimens were obtained in the same spot and practically at the same time. Certainly the bird seen by me was quite alone, and this at a time when mature birds were all paired, and it may even be feared that it was the sole living representative of its species. If, however, a few pairs remained it is possible that the Lanai akialoa may even have increased in numbers, as I am told that the forests of that island have improved rather than deteriorated since I made my last visit." The forest certainly has improved but the bird has not been seen for a certainty since Perkins saw it. I watched for it for 20 years and on only one occasion saw a bird that might reasonably be supposed to be this species. It was across a small valley from my position, moving up the steep hillside, flying from tree to tree. It was more yellow in color than any other Lanai bird, about the size and with the action of an akialoa, but I could not say for certain that it was this bird. I made two collections of the forest landshells of Lanai, two botanical collections, and hunted goats all through the forest; I explored for water in its valleys and rode its bridle trails scores of times, but I never again saw a bird I even remotely thought might be an akialoa.
OAHU AKIALOA
| Hemignathus obscurus ellisianus (Gray) | Plate 14, Fig. 3 |
Jibi (Wilson & Evans)
Other Hawaiian name: Iwi or lkvi. This is a peculiar and surprising transference of the name, as the true Urn is a distinctly different bird.
The plumage of this species is duller than that of the other species. At least the only specimen known to exist during the period Perkins was in the field showed this and he said of the ones he saw: "I distinctly noticed the somber plumage of the upper parts..." However, J. C. Greenway, Jr. in "The Auk" of April 1941, reviewing J. d'Arcy Northwood's "Familiar Hawaiian Birds" states: "Actually there are three specimens, one in Berlin and two in Leyden. They were collected by Herr Deppe in 1834."
In October 1892, Perkins was sure he saw a pair of these birds. He was then familiar with the Hemignathus of the other islands. I quote from his journal: -'On a very narrow part of the ridge a pair of green birds flew across in front of me one just behind and in pursuit of the omer, which squeaked as it flew. This darted across the ridge and down the Nuuanu side, the other alighted in an Ohia bush on the ridge,... I had no doubt at the time that this was the rare Akialoa of Oahu... On a number of days afterwards I hunted around Waolani, and once more I spent a night in the open on the ridge but never again saw anything that could be mistaken for a Hemignathus."
Harold Craddock is sure he saw one of this species in 1937, and J. d'Arcy Northwood also at a later date as stated in the Preface of his "Familiar Hawaiian Birds." On both occasions the bird was taking honey from ohiaflowers.Both are good ornithological observers and it is possible the bird may still exist I, myself, collected a specimen of a bird on Lanai long after Perkins and Palmer had combed the little forest without finding any of the species. If still existing it is hoped that future observers may have a chance to study its habits as so little is known of this bird.
KAUAI AKIALOA
| Hemignathus obscurus procerus Cabanis | Plate 14, Fig. 5 |
Other Hawaiian name: liwi. The true iiwi of Kauai was generally known as Iiwipolena (adult) and Iiwipopolo (young), or Olokele.
The plate gives a good idea of this remarkable bird. It seemed to me that in full breeding plumage the adult male was almost all yellow. Length 7.5 inches; bill of male 2.37 inches and female 2.12.
Endemic to Kauai and probably near extinction. We found this bird in all parts of the Kauai forest from the upper plateau to the forest edges near the seacoast on the north side. In all my visits to the Kauai forests since 1920 I have not seen or heard anything of this bird. Donaghho reported seeing it on the upper plateau in October 1941. It is hoped his observation is correct and that the bird will survive.
Active on its short legs, hopping along the branches and trunks of the trees, searching both sides of the branch in one trip, probing with its beak in holes and crevices in the bark and decaying wood, this is a most interesting bird. Its flights are short, from tree to tree, sometimes singing as it flies. It also searches the bases of the leaves of the ieie (Freycinetia) and halapepe (Dracaena). Sometimes it descends to the ground to forage for grubs and insects amongst the dead leaves and possibly to pick up gizzard stones. The long honeyeater's tongue is useful in extracting honey from the deep tubes of the lobelia flowers and in working out grubs and insects from their hiding places. Its food is insects and larvae, cockroaches, insect eggs, grubs, caterpillars and nectar from flowers. They answer each other with a chirp, and also have a very distinct call much like a linnet's but a little louder. Both male and female have a light sweet song, the female with fewer notes than the male. In January and February, 1891, we did not notice their singing, but in March and April it was quite noticeable, and they also Seemed to have a different chirp at Hanalei where we were in April, evidently a breeding season call. On April 20, 1891,1 spent a day collecting with Mr. Francis Gay on our first hunting ground by the head of the Hanapepe Valley, Kauai. The koas were in flower and there were many birds. Gay wanted some oos for Wilson and Palmer had written me from Honolulu to procure specimens for some clients in England. We secured two akialoas out of several seen, one a beautiful yellow bird. All the birds seemed to be breeding at that time. Unfortunately for this study we then left for the Midway trip and did not return till the breeding season was over.
Although these birds were quite numerous, it was evident that they were susceptible to disease. Their habit of coming to the forest's edge and to low elevations exposed them to introduced diseases. One was so disabled with lumps on legs and bill that it could scarcely fly. Another had a tumor a quarter of an inch thick in its throat full of small worms, and a tumor on its ovaries containing a brown paste. Perkins found them with tapeworms. Its decline was likely starting at that time. It may survive at the higher elevations.
KAUAI NUKUPUU
| Hemignathus lucidus hanapepe Wilson | Plate 14, Fig. 7 |
The Hawaiian name Nukupuu is very descriptive of the bird: nuku, the bill of a bird, puu, a small round hill.
Upper parts and breast gamboge yellow, white on abdomen; bill and feet slaty black. Length 5.6 inches. Upper mandible 1.2, lower.5. One bird was almost all yellow, the forehead being especially bright, another was slaty color with a few yellow feathers on the head. Female: breast primrose yellow, dull white on abdomen. The female is a much smaller and duller bird than the male. One had only one spot of yellow and that on the throat at the base of the bill. We collected 7 or 8 males to two females. The females are only distinguishable in the trees from amakihi by their long thin bills.
Endemic to Kauai, and probably near to extinction, the species was discovered by Wilson about 1887 at Kaholuamanu and named by him hanapepe. We seldom found it below 4,000 feet elevation. The species was not common and we would have taken few specimens but for its habit of accompanying the little flocks of akikiki whose chirping drew our attention and we followed the flock, thus obtaining this bird, akialoa and ou-holowai (Loxops). Perkins also obtained a good series of skins. I took a specimen in December 1898, and two more on May 6, 1899, all males. I doubt if it has been seen since.
It was tame and unafraid, not seeming to notice our approach. It searched the bark and loose wood on living and dead trees. Its flights were short, from tree to tree. The two taken in 1899 were hunting their food amongst the leaves of rather low trees. They were quite tame and close together. I do not think we saw them hunting amongst leaves in the early part of 1891. At that time they were foraging in the bark only for grubs and beetles. On this occasion they were getting caterpillars from the green leaves. The birds collected as specimens had grubs and caterpillars in their stomachs, some of the caterpillars being over an inch long; others had remains of beetles.
In searching for food it would pause to utter its clear and distinct kee-wit. Perkins said its song was "a short trill," and that it was "fairly lavish of its song." One at Kaholuamanu had small sores on its feet
OAHU NUKUPUU
| Hemignathus lucidus lucidus Lichtenstein | Plate 14, Fig. 2 |
Above olive green, below yellow. Endemic to Oahu and probably extinct. There are few specimens in collections. Deppe took specimens about 1837 in Nuuanu Valley where it fed on honey from the flowers of the plantain. Perkins found evidence that it abounded in the Oahu forests in some numbers in 1860. None of the collectors in the 1890's found any trace of it
MAUI NUKUPUU
Hemignathus lucidus affinis Rothschild
Yellow in different shades is the prevailing color of this bird. Endemic to Maui. Perkins found it more numerous than the Kauai species in the restricted areas it inhabited. He gave its habitat at from 4,000 to 4,500 feet elevation on the northeast slopes of Haleakala. Its habits agree very nearly with those of the Kauai nukupuu. Perkins remarked that it seemed to imitate the song of the imported linnet (Carpodacus).
This bird has not been seen since Perkins collected on Maui.
HAWAII NUKUPUU
| Hemignathus lucidus wilsoni Rothschild | Plate 14, Fig. 1 |
Other Hawaiian names: Akiapolaau; Akialoa; Akialoa nukupuu (?).
"Adult male. Upper parts bright olive green, brighter on head and rump; wings and tail brown; underparts gamboge yellow."
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii. This remarkable bird was common in Kona during our collecting time there. Perkins found it widely distributed over the island, its range being above 3,500 feet level. I did not see it on the survey but it has been seen since, I think, in fair numbers near the Hawaii National Park. It is hoped that it will survive as it is an exceedingly interesting bird.
Its lower mandible instead of being curved like that of the other nukupuu is straight, the tip only contacting the upper mandible. All its muscles are well developed especially those of the head and neck and its skull exceptionally thick. The head is larger than that of the Kauai species and we had difficulty in getting the skin over it. The mandible seemed to extend further back than in most birds. I believe this has been brought about by its habit of using the lower mandible as a woodpecker does its bill. It uses great energy in beating at the bark and wood, breaking off pieces and dropping them. Perkins states that it strikes with the points of both mandibles at the same time. I watched them very closely, but without a glass, and was sure that the bird held the upper mandible out of the way and struck only with the lower which is stiff and strong and fitted for digging into the rotten bark and wood. With both together it seemed to me that it would not be nearly so effective. The bird frequently detaches pieces of bark and wood and drops them off the tree. As the bird still exists this is a question that can be fully examined by ornithologists. Perkins had greater opportunities of studying the bird than I had and his conclusions may be right, though we both may be correct. Perkins says that both the Maui and Kauai nukupuu make the tapping noise with their bills, though not so loud as the Hawaii species. I did not notice it in the Kauai bird. The remarkable thing about it is that in the Kauai nukupuu the lower mandible curves and is thin and in no way suitable, as I thought, for the woodpecker action as practiced by the Hawaii bird. My notes say: "It drives the lower mandible with considerable force into the crevices of the bark, the mouth kept open, the tapping noise being plainly heard at a distance, sometimes drawing our attention to the bird. When it gets the lower mandible inserted it uses it as a lever bearing both ways, using considerable force throwing its head from side to side. The pieces which break off it takes with both mandibles and throws off, sweeping the long upper one into the crevices opened on the branch."
In the latter part of September 1891, the parents were leading their young about, the latter seeming to depend on the parents for some time after leaving the nest I saw a male and female tending a young one. Previously we had always seen only one young with either parent bird and had concluded that they shared the young, each taking one. The young one would sit fluttering its wings and chirping loudly, now and again trying to dig into the bark, but flying to the parent at the slightest chirp from it. On one occasion a female was near a young bird when a male flew to the latter and began to disgorge its food to the young one. Both were evidently attending one chick. I sometimes met the young alone. They were then very tame and. inquisitive and if I stood still would come quite close to examine me. I saw an adult drive an akialoa out of a tree and preempt its claim. One was sampling koa pods, evidently hooking insects or grubs out of the half opened pods.
PSEUDONESTOR
| Pseudonestor xanthophrys Rothschild | Plate 15, Fig. 5 |
Other name: Parrot-billed Koa Finch. The thick-billed Drepanids are not finches, and I think it inadvisable to continue the use of an incorrect name.
At first these birds, along with Telespiza, Chloridops and Rhodacan-this, all birds with heavy finch-like bills, were mistaken for finches, but as they were shown later to belong to the endemic Hawaiian family of the Drepanids and in no way allied to the finches, I see no point in continuing to call them such.
The genus Pseudonestor was erected by Rothschild to carry a remarkable bird discovered by Palmer on Maui. There are no woodpeckers or parrots in the Hawaiian group; but as the Hawaii nukupuu adopted habits and acquired somewhat the structure of woodpeckers, so did Pseudonestor develop characteristics and habits of a parrot.
Plate 15 gives a good idea of this bird. Its length is about 5V3 inches. Immature birds are colored much like the adult but are pale yellowish underneath (Henshaw). Perkins thinks it is most nearly related to the nukupuu (Hetnignathus lucidus) "which it resembles in its robust body and short tail but differs from that genus chiefly in the enormous development of the beak, which is of great size and compressed form affording a large surface for the attachment of the large muscles of the jaw which are necessary in performing its work; further in the loss of the typical tubular character of the tongue." It has also characteristics like the ou (Psittacirostra) and Perkins is of the opinion that it is intermediate between the two forms, the passage from the extremely slender beak of the nukupuu and the thick bill of Pseudonestor having evolved through another less exaggerated form now extinct. Endemic to Maui, Perkins, Palmer and Henshaw found it rather a rare bird between 4,000 and 5,000 feet elevation on the northwest slope of Haleakala in the eighteen nineties. I failed to find it in 1928 in a very careful search, but was told by a workman of a bird he called "boring bird" seen when he camped with surveyors in the Kaupo Gap in the southwest corner of the crater of Haleakala. He said they came out of the main forest in the evenings to a small patch of trees in the crater. His description tallied with the action of this bird. This would indicate that it inhabited the forests of Hana and Kipahulu Forest Reserve and there is ground for hope that it may still survive. I traversed miles of new C.GC. trails in the Hana forest in 1936 and though there was fairly good foraging ground in the large koas I saw nothing of the bird. The forests on the east and south sides of Haleakala have been little worked for study of the birds. It may remain indefinitely in remote recesses of that forest.
It was sluggish in action, tame and unsuspicious. In feeding it sometimes hung by its feet to a twig, brought its head over it and with its powerful bill split the twig over the burrow of the grub on which it largely fed, after the manner of a parrot. In hunting along the trunks of fallen trees it searched one side after the other as it proceeded like the akialoa and nukupuu.
This bird's food is mostly gained from the koa and consists of the larvae, pupae, and immature beetles of a native species; but it also visits other trees as Pelea, where it obtains the larvae of another native beetle and leaves remarkable scars on the tree. It feeds its young partly on these and partly on looper caterpillars.'
The call note is a loud kee-wit very like that of the nukupuu with which it sometimes associates. Perkins once killed both Pseudonestor and a nukupuu with one shot. Its song is "quite similar to that of the latter, a short, vigorous trill, at its best fully as loud as the nukupuu of Hawaii." It sometimes sings when on the wing, but more often when feeding on the koas, pausing at intervals like the nukupuu to make its call.
Perkins once saw a nest of this bird; at least he said it could only have been of this species or the Maui nukupuu. It was well hidden, built among lichens which partly composed the material of the nest. It was of a simple cup-shaped form. Old birds, with young just able to fly, occupying the tree induced him to believe it was their nest.
DYSMORODREPANIS
Dysmorodrepanis munroi Perkins
Other name: Hook-bill Lanai Finch. No Hawaiian name is known.
Endemic to Lanai and nearly extinct. I discovered this bird on February 22, 1913, in the Kaiholena Valley. It flew from a tree with a little chirp and alighted a short distance away, and thinking it was an ou I shot it. It measured 6 inches in length, larger than Pseudonestor of Maui and smaller than the ou. It was molting and hard shot, and its sex could not be ascertained on dissection. Its color on the upper parts was light gray with a tinge of green. A light band ran along the wing showing on the side and there was a light mark over the eye; underneath lighter, almost white. Its striking peculiarity was its beak. Both mandibles were curved towards each other so that the tip of the lower is the only part that touched the upper leaving an opening between them like the Hawaii nukupuu, only more exaggerated.
I saw a bird of this kind on two occasions afterwards, once on March 16,1916, farther up the Kaiholena Valley, and again on August 12, 1918, at Waiakeakua at the southwest end of the forest. On both occasions I was sure that it was not one of the known birds of the Lanai forest. The one at Waiakeakua showed distinctly the white mark over the eye, not on any other Lanai bird. The action and voice of the birds in both cases were different from any of the Lanai birds. But in neither case was I close enough to distinguish the shape of the beak.
I made a serious mistake by not saving the whole body in spirits for anatomical examination, or at least treating the tongue in this way. I dried the tongue which detracted from its value as a specimen. I should like to impress this on observers in the remote chance of their finding the body of some rare bird. The tongue is an extremely important diagnostic feature in the Drepanids.
On several occasions when on the lookout for this bird I heard a strange bird chirp, especially at Waiakeakua. It was generally on the wing as it sounded from different directions, now on this side, now on that. On every occasion I failed to catch sight of it. It is possible that the bird is not so rare as might be supposed. A quiet retiring bird, as this evidently is, might remain unnoticed a long time, even in a forest as small as that of Lanai
It is my theory that this bird and the other rare Lanai bird, the Lanai akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus lanaiensis) both frequented the forest of akoko (Euphorbia lorifolia) that originally covered the plains now planted in pineapples. The akoko tree has fruit about the size of that of the opuhe (Urera sandwichensis) on which the bird was feeding when taken. As I understood from persons who remembered this forest it was a continuous area of thousands of acres of akoko trees.
I believe these two species had become adapted to this unique forest and when it was destroyed they became reduced in numbers while the other Lanai birds remained especially numerous, only to go down in their turn when conditions changed again. It was the irony of fate that they still survived in numbers when the upper forest was almost destroyed and then succumbed when their foraging ground had become vastly improved. There are several species of akoko in the Lanai forest and the opuhe also abounds in different valleys so the bird will find sustenance if it still survives.
I tried for several years to obtain another specimen so as to allay any doubts that might arise that this specimen is a sport but I failed to do so. From my experiences with this specimen and observations in the forest afterwards I am convinced that the species existed in the early years of this century.
OU
| Psittacirostra psittacea (Gmelin) | Plate 15, Figs. 6 & 7 |
Other Hawaiian names: Ou poolapalapa (male) and Ou-laueo (female), indicating, respectively, the yellow-headed and the leaf-green ou. Wilson spells the second name laevo, which is obviously incorrect.
Two versions of the generic name of the ou are found in the literature, Wilson and Perkins spelling the name Psittacirostra, Rothschild and Henshaw using Psittirostra. Temminck, the author of the name, first spelled it Psittirostra, but later amended it to the correct grammatical form, which should be accepted.
With its yellow head and bright green body in varying shades on different parts the ou is a beautiful bird. The female lacks the yellow on the head and the immature are duller and also without yellow on the head.
Endemic to the main group but dangerously near extinction. In the eighteen nineties the ou was extremely common on all the forested islands except Oahu from which it had nearly disappeared. It seemed strange that it should disappear from Oahu and remain common on the other islands, but it has since disappeared from all the other islands as well. The ou's habit of coming down to. the lowest levels where food could be found, exposed it to introduced diseases, probably mosquito-borne. The introduced guava which covered large areas at the lower' levels proved a lure and the birds carried the diseases into the forest depths when they returned to feast on the ieie flowers and fruit, berries of the arborescent lobelias and other fruits of the uplands. On Lanai the bird was under my eye and I reported to the Bishop Museum every year. I quote from my 1923 report: "The forest birds of Lanai are holding their own and some species probably increasing, in the following order, ou, olomao, amakihi, apapane, Oreomyza and iiwi and there is every reason to believe that these species, with the proposed extension of the forest area planned by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, will flourish indefinitely." A vain hope, for in 1932 I state in the report: "Lanai forests were often visited. The native birds though much more numerous than on Kauai or Oahu, are getting scarcer; the ou has not been seen for some time."
The ou was a high flier and migrated from one part of the forest to another. High winds carried them from island to island and so it kept uniform over the whole group. It was slow in its movements in the trees.
Perkins thinks that the inflorescence and ripe fruit of the ieie vine was its original food and that its parrot-like hooked bill was developed to facilitate its scooping up the fleshy flower bracts and picking the ripe fruit from the upright spadix. In the Pelekunu Valley Perkins complained that he could not find an untouched fruit of the mountain apple (Eugenia). The bird had, however, a wide field in fruits of the introduced plants and trees. I found them feeding on guavas on Kauai and on mulberries on Hawaii.
The ou not only had beauty of plumage but it had a beautiful voice. Its song sometimes started with several clearly whistled notes that I thought were like those of Rhodacanthis but not so strong. It had a plaintive call and by imitating it the bird would answer and guide one to its quiet perch among the green leaves where it was scarcely visible.
There is no recorded instance of its nest or eggs being seen. Probably it was securely bidden in the masses of staghorn fern or ieie vines.
Its feathers were used in Hawaiian feather work.
Psittacirostra deppei Rothschild
Rothschild's collectors did not obtain the ou on Oahu but from older specimens Rothschild described the Oahu bird as different from the others 'inis does not seem likely as the common bird inhabited Kauai and the other islands to the southeast of Oahu and it seems likely that the birds in the eighteen-nineties were still being carried from island to island. The ou has been seen on Oahu by observers but no specimen has been taken for a long time.
PAULA
| Loxioides bailleui Oustalet | Plate 15, Fig. 2 |
The name refers perhaps to the gray color of the bird. This name Palila has been applied to Chloridops through an error that crept into a paper by Perkins which appeared in "The Ibis" at a time when he was camped out in the wilds of Hawaii and was unable to check the proofs.
Neck, throat and breast yellow, rest of under surface dull white. Upper surface mostly ashy gray. The palila was rather a nice looking bird.
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii, it is now in danger of extinction. At about 4,000 feet elevation in Kona in September 1891, it was common, tame and easy to collect. Perkins found it common in Hamakua. But his journal/on August 14, 1894, in Kona states: "The Palila (Loxioides) is now almost totally absent though at this season, 1892, it could be seen in numbers here every day and in all conditions of plumage. I have seen but two males on this occasion."
I found no signs of this bird in 1936, but Donaghho reported in 1937 seeing some high on the sides of Mauna Kea.
A sociable bird going in small companies. It feeds to a great extent on the seeds of the mamane (Sopbora), holding the pod down with its foot and tearing it open with its hooked bill. We found it feeding on poha fruit. I saw one eating the seeds of the aaio(Myoporum), cracking the nut with its bill like Chloridops. Evidently the seeds were green as the cracking sound was not nearly so loud as that made by the other birds when cracking the dry seeds. Chloridops occasionally eats the green seeds and it can be seen how it developed its strong bill by starting with green seeds. Perkins found it feeding its young on caterpillars and at times feeding heavily on them itself. He said it had a whistled call note to which it readily responded; he described the call as having an inquiring or inquisitive nature. I noted it had a low chirp and a very low song.
Perkins found it nesting in the Mamane trees in Kona at from 4,000 to 6,000 feet elevation in 1892. He saw young in all stages from some scarcely able to fly to nearly mature, but he found no nest with eggs.
Much as this bird has been reduced in numbers there is hope that it will survive at the higher elevations.
HOPUE
| Rhodacanthis palmeri Rothschild | Plate 15, Figs. 3 & 4 |
Andrews' Hawaiian Dictionary lists hopue as the name of a fiber-yielding tree. Probably it is Urera sandwichensis, known today as opuhe, but I fail to see the connection between that and the bird. Perkins went to great effort to find the native names of this bird and Chloridops, but failed in both. I greatly doubt the validity of the name Hopue.
Mostly reddish orange in color, the full-fledged birds had a golden sheen over the head which faded out to some extent in the skin. With the exception of the crow, it was the largest of the perching birds of the Hawaiian forests, and one of the finest looking.
Endemic to the Island of Hawaii and now in danger of extinction. It was one of Palmer's discoveries. He found the first specimen on September 26, 1891, at Puulehua on the Greenwell ranch in Kona. Perkins found it afterwards in Kau. Henshaw failed to find it a few years afterwards in the region where Perkins and Palmer collected it. In the survey in 1937 the only trace I could find of it was from a guide in Kona who had heard a bird whistle a year or two before. His imitation of the whistle sounded to me identical to that of the bird as I remembered it. Donaghho reported he heard it whistle near the Hawaii National Park in 1937.
Undoubtedly descended from the same honey eating ancestors as other Drepanine birds, it long ago deserted honey for a vegetable thet. Finch-like characteristics were developed as with others of the group. According to Perkins its honey eater's tongue does not show as great a modification as do some of the others, the ou for instance. The bill has much the same structure as Chloridops kona but is more slender and with corners on the lower mandible. Unlike C. kona the head can be taken through the skin without difficulty. Their stomachs were large and the covering thin. We noticed a strong odor from the flesh.
It fed largely on the green beans of the koa. The first one I saw was hanging back downwards evidently working on a bean pod, after the manner of Pseudonestor, as described by Perkins. Old pods on the ground had a row of holes cut in them where the seeds had been. The seeds of these Hawaii koas were large and sometimes the birds' stomachs were stuffed with large pieces which had been cut up by their sharp-edged beaks. Some had a few smaller seeds in their stomachs and one small group was feeding in the low aalii trees (Dodonaea). They made quite a rustling in extracting the seed from the dry shell surrounding it Perkins found it occasionally feeding on caterpillars and feeding its young on them.
Its song or call is several whistled flute-like notes, the last ones prolonged. It seemed to flood the whole surrounding forest. We could find it only by its whistle, loud from the tops of the koas. That itself was difficult as the bird seemed to have ventriloquial powers and the whistle sounded from different directions. It required patience to secure the specimen.
We found the birds varying much in size and also, to some extent, in color. One or two were colored like the ou with yellow heads and green backs. These were afterwards described by Rothschild as a different species but as there were intergrades we did not consider them different.
We collected adults and young birds, apparently still with the parent, feeding on the koa beans. Ovaries of a female in one of these groups were enlarged as if she were preparing to have another brood.
Perkins saw the male bird come down to the ground for nest-building material and carry it to the top of a tall koa tree. Afterwards when the koa trees were more or less stripped of leaves by caterpillars he saw good-sized nests, probably of these birds.
Rhodacanthis flaviceps Rothschild
We were surprised to see that some of our "bigfinches"were classed as a different species. There is some doubt about the validity of this species and I shall quote from my notes to throw some light on this: "September 30, 1891. In the heat of the day I shot another of the great finches. It has a little yellow over its bill. It was feeding in a koa top. Palmer killed another at the same time, a much smaller bird with golden head and neck and light yellow breast It was also in the koa. The tree has seed pods on it and it seems they are feeding on the seeds." October 1. "The male and female great finches of yesterday were 7.62 and 8.62 inches. Their stomachs contained mostly the seeds of the koa, the male having some smaller seeds." October 10. "The finches vary much in size, 2 adult males 9 inches, one 8.75, one young female 8.5, an adult female 7.5. Their colors also vary a good deal." October 13. "2 male giant finches 8.75 and 8.62, female 7.12 inches." October 16. "Palmer brought back some finches, one of which was colored very much like an ou; the head being yellow and the back and rump green." It might be noted that these measurements were taken in the flesh including all curves. Rothschild was, I think, at times puzzled with the difference between our measurements and that of the dried skins; but the difference is not at all surprising considering Palmer's system of measuring and of preparing skins.
Had we had the slightest suspicion that there were two species I would have taken more complete notes. They might, of course, be hybrids with the ou but this seems unlikely considering the habits of the birds. We saw no evidence of their mixing.
TELESPIZA
Telespiza cantans Wilson
The story of this species is told in "The Ibis" for 1890, p. 341. The schooner "Mary Bohm," Captain Bohm, Master, was heading for Honolulu in a more or less unseaworthy condition. A landing was made at an island (the story said Midway, but this could not be so. It must have been either Laysan or Nihoa). About 50 birds of this species were caught by the crew in the scrub covering part of the island. Another landing was made at Niihau, and Mr. George Gay, the manager of the island ranch, replenished the somewhat exhausted stores of the ship and the Captain gave him 10 of the birds and no doubt told him where he had obtained them. He sold the remaining 40 in Honolulu and Wilson succeeded in obtaining one. of these and took it alive to England. He erected the genus Telespiza for it He described it in "The Ibis" as stated above, accompanied by a colored plate of the bird. The other birds disappeared and probably all died.
Palmer on his return from Laysan gave a male specimen of the "Laysan finch" to the Gay and Robinson collection. On April 23, 1892, Francis Gay told me that Wilson's specimen came from Nihoa and was different from the Laysan bird. George Gay had left Niihau for California in 1891 or early in 1892 and visited with his people, the Gays and Robinsons at Makaweli, Kauai, when on the way. He no doubt noted the difference between the Laysan specimen and the birds given him by Captain Bohm and told his brother Francis the story of the birds. I took employment with the Gay and Robinson Company after George Gay had gone to California. I made a note of what Mr. Gay told me and forgot about it for half a century.
If what Francis Gay told me is a fact, and I see no reason to doubt it, Rothschild's species T. flavissima is the Laysan bird, and T. cantans the Nihoa species. There is absolutely no evidence to show that Wilson's bird came from Laysan and there is evidence that it came from Nihoa. However, it will be necessary to study all descriptions and colored plates, and compare Wilson's specimen with those of Nihoa and Laysan before the matter can be decided. The colored plate of Wilson's bird in "The Ibis" is certainly not an adult male of the Laysan species. Unfortunately the description does not state whether it is male or female. Space will not permit a full exposition in this publication even if at this time all facts were available. However, the truth should be ascertained if there is a possibility of doing so.
1. Chloridops
2. Palila
3. Hopue, female
4. Hopue, mole
5. Pseudonestor
6. Ou, female
7. Ou, male
8. Laysan Canary, male
9. Laysan Canary, female
(All the birds pictured in this plate are undoubtedly descended from a common ancestor species.)
1. Peaceful Dove
2. Diamond Dove
3. Bar-shouldered Dove
4. Crested Pigeon
5. Wohgawonga Pigeon
6. Chinese Dove
7. Brome-wing Dove
8. Mountain quail
9. California Valley Quail
LAYSAN CANARY
| Telespiza flavissima Rothschild | Plate 15, Figs. 8 & 9 |
Other name: Laysan "Finch."
Rothschild described this bird as a second species inhabiting Laysan. He was wrong in stating that the female does not differ from the male or that in the collection Palmer sent to England there were no specimens in immature plumage. I do not know how this mixup of specimens occurred but as I skinned and prepared most of them I know there were brownish adult females and young birds in the collection. Rothschild afterwards acknowledged that he was mistaken about the female.
Whether the Laysan Telespiza is T. flavissima or T. cantons it was exceedingly common on Laysan Island in June 1891 and there were none on Midway Island in July of that year except two released there by the sons of Captain Walker when we were there.
The head and body of the male is mostly yellow; the female light brown. Length 7.5 inches; legs brown; bill light brown. Two very young chicks had a little bunch of black down on the head and back; the inside of the mouth a very pretty pink.
Endemic to Laysan, it was common on all parts of the island. Large numbers were taken to Honolulu as cage birds but all died. Some were taken to Midway Islands and the species became well established there. In 1923 after rabbits had destroyed the vegetation of Laysan it was reduced to a small number. By 1938 when the "Zaca" expedition visited Laysan, Coultas said that there were at least 1,000 on the northwest side and around the house.
It is weak on the wing but strong on its legs and has a powerful beak. It is unafraid and will enter buildings and steal anything in the way of food. It has a wide dietary; insects, larvae, birds' eggs, dead birds, the starchy root of the Boerbaavia, seed of the seaside Tributes which it cracks despite the protecting thorns. It is a very fair singer. Freeth thought its song was a musical imitation of the various bird cries of the island.
They begin to breed early in May and were rearing their young in middle June. We found one nest with two eggs and another with two chicks and one egg. The nests were built of grass stems and twigs in the scrub or grass bunches. The egg is a good deal larger than the miller bird's and has reddish spots.
I made an effort to obtain permits to bring some to the Waikiki Bird Park in 1940 but failed. If some were brought to Honolulu and they died as all have done in the past, investigation might show of what they died and throw light on the causes of the dwindling of the Drepanine birds on the main islands.
NIHOA TELESPIZA
Telespiza ultima W. A. Bryan
Bryan described this bird as new although, as I said above, this may well be the bird described by Wilson as T. cantons. Bryan named the species ultima because he was sure it was the last endemic Hawaiian bird that would be discovered. In that he erred, as the Nihoa miller-bird was later discovered on the same islet
Endemic to Nihoa Island, it was one of the birds Palmer missed by being unable to land on Nihoa. At that time we did not know of its existence there but after our return we met Judge Sanford B. Dole who told us of a picnic party landing there in the eighteen-eighties and of seeing this bird then. The party had failed to land on the sand beach but found a cove in the rocky face where they landed without much difficulty. Dr. Gerritt P. Wilder when Custothan of the "Hawaiian Reservation" once arranged for me to accompany him to the island and make an investigation of its bird life but somehow he was unable to obtain the Navy transportation he expected at that time, so I lost another opportunity of being in on discovery of new birds on the Hawaiian Chain.
CHLORIDOPS
| Chloridops kona Wilson | Plate 15, Fig. 1 |
At the time this bird was found it was apparently unknown to the Hawaiians, and no native name has been learned. The name Palila, applied to it in an article by Perkins in "The Ibis" and, following him, by Henshaw, is an error.
Most of plumage olive green, dull white on abdomen. Length about 6 inches. Endemic to the Island of Hawaii and occupying an area of about 4 miles square, though Palmer did see a pair at Honaunau about 10 miles farther along the side of Mauna Loa, southward, this interesting bird is now in danger of extinction. It was discovered by Wilson in June 1887, when he obtained two specimens. Palmer collected a good series of specimens in September 1891, and Perkins also in 1892 and '9A. Palmer searched for the bird for about a week before he found it but once found, we became familiar with its habitat and we procured our specimens easily. It frequented the naio (Myoporum) trees and in breaking the hard dry seeds with its strong heavy beak made a cracking sound which guided us to it. Perkins never saw more than 6 or 8 in a day but Palmer on one occasion collected 12 in one day. Five of these were together and 10 of them not more than 100 yards apart It seldom strayed from the more recent aa or clinker lava flows. These areas were covered with medium-sized trees and little undergrowth. In working over this rough, jagged loose rock we wore out a pair of shoes in a very short time. It might be supposed that a bird with a bill so large in proportion to its size would find it inconvenient to carry, but this bird hopped about in the trees carrying its bill with neck outstretched with perfect ease. Perkins found it a sluggish bird but I thought it active at times. When feeding it did seem sluggish, it sat still and cracked nuts but it could move about with considerable alacrity. We found considerable difficulty in getting the skin over its large head and strong jaw muscles. Its food was almost entirely the little maggot-like germ from the center of the naio seeds but sometimes it cut up the green nuts and swallowed them. It also ate green leaves and at times caterpillars.
A small squeak and a light sweet song are the only call notes recorded. A low cheep repeated at intervals. The song is sometimes long with a variety of notes. It sang more vigorously when excited, on one occasion when it lost its mate. It has not been seen since Perkins collected it in the eighteen-nineties. Henshaw failed to find it and considered our wonderful collecting area, which we thought a collector's paradise, one of the poorest over which he had hunted. It can be seen from some of Perkins' experiences how quickly the birds disappeared from some localities.
There is a remote possibility that it will survive on some of the rough lava flows at a high elevation.