1SS7.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 75 



BIRDS OF KAUAI ISLAND, HAWAKAN ARCHIPELAGO, COLLECTED 

 BY MR. VALDEMAR KNUDSEN, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW 



SPECIES. 



By rEONHARD »«TE: JNEOER. 



The National Museum is iudebted to Mr. Valdemar Knudsen for sev- 

 eral interesting collections of birds from the island of Kauai, Hawaiian 

 Archipelago, gathered by himself, and forwarded from time to time. 

 Some of the novelties in the earlier collections have already been pub- 

 lished by Mr. Robert Kidgway, partly in these "Proceedings," partly 

 in the great work on the "Water Birds of North America," but the 

 present writer has deemed it best to include these also in the present 

 paper, since few of them have been mentioned in any memoir exclu- 

 sively devoted to Hawaiian ornithology. By so doing it will also at 

 once become apparent how greatly Mr. Knudsen has advanced our 

 knowledge of one of the most interesting ornithological regions in the 

 world. 



The island of Kauai, or A tool, as the early travelers erroneously called 

 it, was not only the first one discovered, but also the first one on which 

 ornithological specimens and observations were collected. It may not 

 be without interest here to quote what Captain Cook wrote in regard to 

 the birds the first discoverers met with on this island (Cook's Voy. 

 Pacif. Ocean, II, pp. 207 and 227, 1784) : 



[Page 207.] " We were at a loss to guess from whence they could 

 get such a quantity of these beautiful feathers, but were soon informed 

 as to one sort, for they afterward brought great numbers of skins of 

 small red birds for sale, which were often tied np in a bunch of twenty 

 or more, or had a small wooden skewer run through their nostrils. At 

 the first those that were brought consisted only of the skin from behind 

 the wings forward, but we afterwards got many with the hind part, in- 

 cluding the tail and feet. * * * The red bird of our island [AtooiJ was 

 judged by Mr. Anderson to be a species of Merops, about the size of a 

 spariow, of a beautiful scarlet colour, with a black tail and wings and 

 an arched bill twice the length of the head, wiiich, with the feet, was 

 also of a reddish colour." * * * 



[Page 227.] " The scarlet birds, already described, which were brought 

 for sale, were never met with alive; but we saw a single small one, 

 about the size of a canary bird, of a deep crimson colour; a large owl; 

 two large brown hawks or kites; and a wild duck. The natives men- 

 tioned the names of several other birds, amongst which we knew the 

 otoo, or bluish heron, and [p. 228] the torata, a sort of whimbrel, which 

 are known by the same name at Otaheite, and it is probable that there 

 are a great many sorts, judging by the quantity of fine yellow, green, 

 and very small, velvet-like, black feathers used ui)on the cloaks and 

 other ornaments worn by the inhabitants." 



