92 BIRDS OF KAUAI ISLAND, HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



Wingfo-innia : 1>A2; 2<9>10; 3=7; 5>4>G, these tUree 

 longest aud the differeuce between them only slight (about 1"™). 



For dimensions see table below. 



The systematic position of these rare birds has been somewhat doubt- 

 ful and is still so. Phccornis obscura was by Cassin referred to the 

 "American Flycatchers," but the shortened first primary shows that 

 it has nothing to do with these jS^eotropical birds, and those ornitholo- 

 gists who placed it with the "Old World Flycatchers" came nearer 

 the truth. Mr. II. B. Sharpe refers it to the Prionopid(S, evidently ex- 

 cluding it from the Muscicapidcc on account of the very forward position 

 of the chin-angle, an essential character of his •' Coliomori)ha;.'" This 

 feature, however, is by no means peculiar to the latter group, as I have 

 already shown in my paper on the arrangement of the American Tur- 

 dida3,* in which I separated, as a subftimily, the Myadestince with the 

 character; " Chin-angle always anterior to the line of the nostrils." And, 

 in fact, nobody can help being struck by the great similarity between 

 Phccornis myadestina and, say, Myadestes ohsciirtts, a similarity first 

 pointed out to me by friend Ridgway. So great is the resemblance, 

 that I doubt whether Mr. Seebohm could consistently keep them apart 

 generically. Not only is the general color very similar, but the pattern 

 of wing and tail most surprisingly so. Also some of the structural 

 characters bring the two birds rather close together: both have a very 

 short gonys which is less than one-third the commissure, and the chin- 

 angle is much anterior to the large nostrils, and both have " booted " 

 tarsus. The chief differences consist in the greater length and rounded 

 shape of the tail in Myadestes, aud the longer first primary and longer 

 tarsus of Phceornis. 



But this is not all that speaks in favor of this bird being related to 

 the Turdidce (and to the Muscicapidcv, as I can see no possibility of keep, 

 iug these two so-called families apart), for the young specimen of Ph. 

 myadestina (No. 110042) shows that the young ones have the spotted 

 plumage so characteristic of all Turdidw. 



The question in regard to the systematic position of Phwornis is one 

 of great interest, for should it really be nearest related to the Myadestina, 

 then the " non- American " appearance, or rather "• Old World" appear, 

 auce, of the latter would perhaps not be so inexplicable. 



Mr. Knudsen writes that the Uapauau, or, better, the On, feeds on 

 bugs aud sings on the wing like "the lark." 



MeasureMoits. 



' ! i Ft I i i ^*^' 



U. S. Nat. , Ses I ' Tail- LoJlrt Len^ ' ^ ■ die 



Mns. ! Collector. I and Locality. Date. Wing, feath- I'"f?' ot toe 



Xo: ! age. ■ eis. „-- gonys. «"- with 



claw. 



cul- 

 nien. ''^ 



110041t ] Knndsen. 

 110042 I. ...do.... 



ad.. Kanai, Hawaiian | 104 j 83 14 ! 7 32 i 24 



Islands. I ' ! ' : „„ 1 



jun.j..-.do 1 102 : 81 14 I 6 32 23J 



* Proc. U. S. Xat. Mus.. V, p. 459. tType. 



