6o Director' s Anntial Report. 



ground in a dead Mamani tree on Horner's Ranch, Hamakua, at 

 about 7300 feet elevation. The tree in which the nest was built 

 was standing in an open space surrounded by live Mamani, the 

 whole clump being sheltered from the winds by a ridge close by. 

 This nest, when compared with the one just described, is like it in 

 form, size and materials, except that a lining of horse hair (a ma- 

 terial not available for the Kona nest) has been added in the 

 Hamakua nest in place of lichens. When found, in Odtober, 1903, 

 this nest, which was then apparently deserted, contained one rotten 

 egg that measures .93X.67 in. It is a creamy white color with 

 pale lilac under markings. Over the surface brown blofches and 

 freckles are distributed, but they are somewhat crowded together 

 about the large end. 



Mr. Blacow, who has colledled extensively in the district and 

 is well acquainted with the birds of the island, was fairly convinced 

 that the q.^% is that of the Palila {Loxioides bailleici Oust.), since 

 it was not only a fairly common bird in the locality, but one found 

 usually frequenting the Mamani. At the time the nest was col- 

 ledled, in addition to securing the globular nests and white eggs 

 of the introduced Carpodacus viexicamis obscurus, he saw C. virens, 

 O. inana, H. wilsoni and L. bailleui in the bushes round about, 

 but did not see V. coccinea or H. sanguinca. 



Wilson (Aves Hawaiiensis), writing on the Palila, states that 

 "On June 14 I found a nest from which I saw the bird fl}^ ; it was 

 placed in the topmost branches of a Naio tree {Myopoi'wn santa- 

 linuni) [^zV], about 35 feet from the ground, but contained no eggs, 

 and when I subsequently revisited it we found it deserted. It may 

 be briefly described as cup-shaped, 4 inches in diameter, and very 

 loosely construcfled of dry grass, among which are interwoven a 

 considerable quantity of grey lichens, the inside being composed 

 of the same lichen wath a few slender rootlets added." 



The two nests here shown differ from each other slightly in 

 the material used in the lining. No. 3009 is very similar to the 

 nest described by Wilson, except in the amount of lichens used. 

 The Q^<g^ here described is out of proportion to the size of any bird 

 other than the Palila, which has been secured in the locality ; 

 hence, by exclusion I conclude that this is the first description of 

 the ^%% of Loxioides bail/eia'. 



[252] 



