Vol. XXIV, pp. 29-30 February 24, 1911 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



TWO NEW BIRDS FROM THE ISLAND OF MOLOKAI. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



While identifying and arranging the extensive series of 

 Hawaiian birds in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, I 

 noticed that both the Iiwi and On of Molokai showed characters 

 by which they could be picked out easily, despite the fact that 

 ornithologists dealing with the birds of these islands have not 

 considered them separable. I therefore propose the following 

 names for these two subspecies: 



Vestiaria coccinea suavis subsp. nov. 



Type from the island of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands; Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology No. 15,059, Bangs Coll., adult d\ Collected February 5, 

 1895, by M. J. Flood. 



Characters. — Similar to true V. coccinea (Forster) of Hawaii; but 

 larger, bill slightly stronger, and red of general plumage orange-vermilion 

 instead of scarlet-vermilion. 



Measurements. — Adult d\ type: wing, 85; tail, 60; culmen, 28; tarsus, 

 25. Adult 9, topotype, No. 15,058: wing, 80; tail, 55; culmen, 25.5; 

 tarsus. 22.* 



Remarks.— A young male of the new form, also collected by Flood, that 

 was changing from a spotted nestling to the red dress of the adult, when 

 compared with similar skins from Hawaii, shows exactly the same differ- 

 ence in the shade of the vermilion portions of its plumage as do adults. 

 While this particular difference in the shade of vermilion is very striking 

 in the symmetrical, smooth skins of even and regular make, which I have 

 just compared, I must confess that it probably would not be in rough 

 skins such as some European ornithologists appear still content with. At 

 all events I find no mention of it in literature, although Wilson did notice 

 certain dissimilarities in size, the shape of the bill, and in the color of the 

 nestlings, in comparing birds from these two islands. 



* In a long series of true V. coccinea from Hawaii, the wing in adult males averages 

 79.6 (78-81), in adult females, 73.75 (72-75). 



8— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIV, 1911. (29) 



