Field Notes o>i the /y/rds of Oaliit . 43 



quarantine. On February 27, while colle(5ling in the large bhia for- 

 est of Waiolani mountain, at an elevation of 1300 feet, I saw an liwi 

 enter a fresh-built nest in an ohia tree {Metrosidcros polymorplia) . 

 I secured the old bird and the nest ; unfortunately, however, there 

 w^ere no eggs, the nest not being quite complete. The bird 

 is a female in beautiful summer plumage. General color, a 

 bright vermilion ; wings and tail, black ; inner two feathers of 

 secondaries, white; feet, light vermilion ; bill, vermilion, darker at 

 tip; eye, hazel. The stomach contained the remains of inse(5ls 

 and ohia stamens. I^ength, 6; wing, 2.87; tail, 2; tarsus, 1.12; 

 culmen, .97. The nest was placed about 40 feet from the ground, 

 and was well secured in the crotch of three small branches, at the 

 end of a big limb standing straight up for 1 2 feet without any lower 

 branches. The nest was completely hidden by leaves and the yel- 

 low ohia blooms ; the exterior was composed of club moss and 

 small twigs ; the inside was of moss, fern pulu, and hair-like fibres 

 from leaves ; outside it was 5-7 in diameter ; inside, 3.5-2 ; depth, 2. 



Himatione sangiiinea, Gmel. Apapane. 



While the Apapane is by no means abundant it is still not 

 uncommon in the mountains of Oahu. They are found in the ohia 

 forests at an elevation of 1000 feet. These birds begin to pair 

 about the middle of February, and I frequently saw them sporting 

 as they flew acrcss the cafion. They may be easily decoyed by 

 giving their call of Cheep in a soft whistle. On February 27 

 three of these birds alighted on an ohia tree quite near me, and 

 one which proved to be a male spread out his wings like a strut- 

 ting turkey cock and danced gracefully to the great satisfaction of 

 the spectators. These birds when flying make a drumming noise 

 with their wings w^hich sounds like the tapping of a woodpecker 

 in the distance. 



On March 3, at an elevation of 1200 feet on Waiolani moun- 

 tain, I heard an Apapane singing from an ohia tree. There were 

 two, a male and female ; I gave the call, a faint cheep, cheep, 

 and the female flew into the tree under which I was standing and 

 was taken. The male continued to sing, his notes being a sweet 

 whistled Hop-o-lee, ch-ch-ch, lee-lee, cha-lee, cha-lee, cha-lee. 

 liquid and beautiful, with frequent changes in the arrangement 

 and abreviations of the above sounds. They usually, as in this 

 case, continue moving rapidly about from one branch to another, 



