76 BIRDS OF KAUAI ISLAND, HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



I am not aware that bird collections of auy consequence have been 

 made in Kauai since then. The naturalists of the United States Ex- 

 ploring Expedition (Wilkes's) visited the island, it is true, but as most of 

 their birds are labeled " Sandwich Islands," and none as being from 

 Kauai specially, this fact is of very little importance. Most of the 

 expeditions which at various times visited the archipelago landed and 

 collected in Oahu and Hawaii, and information concerning the orni- 

 thology of the northern islands is therefore particuhirly acceptable. 



Kauai, the northernmost of the Hawaiian Islands and the fourth in 

 size, is separated from Oahu by a channel 70 miles wide. It is, there- 

 fore, more isolated than either of the larger southern islands, none of 

 which is distant from another more than 30 miles. It is very mountain- 

 ous, but the vegetation is luxuriant ; forests cover the mountain slopes, 

 sugar plantations fill the charming valleys, and at least one-half of its 

 area of 520 square miles is adapted to grazing and agriculture; the 

 climate is said to be very agreeable, and altogether the island deserves 

 its name, the " Garden of Hawaii." A rich avifauna is therefore to be 

 expected, and the discovery of several novelties in the mountainous 

 interior of this island is not at all surprising. The town of Waimea, 

 where Cook first anchored in 1778, is situated near the southwestern 

 corner of the island, and from this neighborhood are most of the birds 

 described in this paper. 



In describing the coloration of the birds I have adhered to Mr. R. 

 Ridgway's excellent "Nomenclature of Colors,"* and would advise 

 other writers to use the same as a standard, that we may have some 

 means of identifying colors. When every author uses his own system 

 of designating colors, descriptions become nearly useless. 



In order to secure stability in the zoological nomenclature I also ob- 

 serve strictly the rules contained in the "Code of Nomenclature adopted 

 by the American Ornithologists' Union. "+ 



The measurements, which are given in millimeters, have all been taken 

 with sharply-pointed dividers, the arms of which were a^out 150™"" long. 

 The " tail-feathers" are measured by thrusting one arm of the dividers 

 between the two middle tail-feathers to their insertion, measuring from 

 that point to the tip of the longest rectrix. 



For some species a full synonymy has been given, but in most cases 

 only such authors are quoted as have treated of the birds of the Ha- 

 waiian Islands directly and particularly. Whenever it has been impos- 

 sible for the present writer personally to verify a (piotation, the number 

 of the page has been given in parentheses, and he disclaims any respon- 

 sibility for figures thus designated. 



*A I Nomenclature of Colors | for Naturalists | aud | Compendium of Useful Knowl- 

 edge I for Ornithologists. | By | Robert Ridgway, | etc. Boston: Little, Brown, aud 

 Company, 1886. — 129 pp., 17 plates. 



t The Code of Nomenclature | and | Check-List I of | North American Birds | Adopted 

 by the American Ornithologists' Union, | etc. New York, 1886. 



