BIRD GENUS APALOPTERON 135 



tliroat of Apalopteron seem to be identical with those seen in the two 

 above-named species and many others. 



Yamashina (1930, pp. 332-334) has reported upon six nests of 

 Apalopteron, each of which contained either two brown-spotted, 

 greenish bkie eggs or two naked nesthngs. Five of the nests were con- 

 structed principally of fibers of Pandanus and Livistona, one (in a 

 Limsfona flower) wholly of Lidstona fibers. The cup-shaped nest, the 

 materials used, the number of eggs, and the nakedness of the chicks all 

 would, if the bird were native to Australia, be used to confirm the view 

 that it is a typical honey-eater. (It should be mentioned, hov/ever, 

 that the eggs of the Australian species of the unspecialized genera seem 

 always to have a pinkish or buffy rather than a greenish blue ground 

 color.) 



The food habits of Apalopteron, and its probable role as a pollinator 

 of one or more species of ornithophilous plants, are of prime im- 

 portance. Dr. Yamashina has \viitten to me that his visits to the 

 Bonins, in winter and spring, did not coincide with the true season of 

 flowers, and that he found the birds then feeding on insects and 

 fruits: ". . . when we broke a large fruit of Pandanus, Apalopteron 

 gathered to eat its seeds." He adds that Apalopteron (in captivity) 

 likes sweet food and delights in sugar-water or honey added to its diet. 

 Parenthetically, it may be noted that insects and fruit seem to be the 

 primary foods of many of the Meliphagidae, with pollen and nectar 

 only secondary ones. 



At discovery the Bonins were described as wholly overgrown with a 

 dripping forest of tall trees. The endemic flora was of mixed proven- 

 ience, some of the genera having originated in temperate eastern Asia, 

 while others, perhaps a majority, were unquestionably of Oceanic 

 origin and here reached theu* northernmost outpost from the Fapua- 

 sian matrix. Hosokawa (1934, pp. 201-209, 657-670) has discussed 

 the phytogeography of the Bonins and has pointed out that, among the 

 botanical curiosities of the islands, are a palm, Cyphokentia (a genus 

 otherwise restricted to New Caledonia and the Samoan Islands), and 

 an arborescent lobelioid (whose nearest relatives are restricted to the 

 Hawaiian Islands). Endemic plants of Oceanic origin that may have 

 had a special relationship with Apalopteron are Myoporum boninense 

 (northernmost representative of a Papuasian family highly attractive 

 to the Meliphagidae) and the Lobelia (whose allies are favored feeding 

 flowers for the Hawaiian Drepaniidae) . While settlement of the 

 islands has brought about immense alteration of the flora, it may be 

 supposed that Apalopteron has benefitted by the introduction of such 

 fruits as the banana, orange, mango, papaya, guava, longan, persim- 

 mon, and passionfruit, to say nothing of the ornamental, often nectar- 

 iferous, plants common to subtropical gardens. 



