134 ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



These facts ought now to convince the most skeptical of the validity 

 of the two species. To those who have got no material, or only an in- 

 sufficient series, I would say that the above i)rocess was the one fol- 

 lowed by me in handling my series, and that the characters are perti- 

 nent and without the slightest sign of intergradation throughout the 

 whole lot of more than twenty specimens, while the table of dimensions 

 below conclusively i)rove the points above alluded to. 



It is a matter of regret to me that so many of the labels of the un- 

 barred birds in my series have no definite data as to the exact time of 

 their capture. Nevertheless I think it pretty clearly established by the 

 facts, accessible to me, that the barred plumage is the full adult breeding 

 plumage, while the clouded under side represents the young bird of the 

 year, and possibly the adults during the four months from December to 

 March. It is furthermore clear from an inspection of the specimens 

 that there is no sexual difference either in color or dimensions. No. 

 87243, collected on the Fiji Islands in " winter," shows some new feathers 

 -with bars, and v. Pelzelu (Novara Exp., p. 130) mentions a specimen from 

 Tahiti, shot on the 25th of February, which most probably is a true 

 incanus in transition to the barred plumage.* 



Turning to the question of the geographical distribution of the two 

 species we already, at the outset, feel the mischief done by the untimely 

 " lumping," as in many cases where no description is given, it is impos- 

 sible to tell which bird more recent authors have had before them. 



It may, however, be stated at once that H. brevities, the short-grooved 

 species with the white under tail-coverts in the adult summer plumage, 

 does not occur in America or in any of the outlying islands belonging 

 to that continent. All the specimens from, Alaska and the Aleutian 

 Islands, down to California, belong to JT. ineamis, and so does the bird 

 from the Galapagos Islands (Gould's T.fuUginosiis). 



This species, incanus, also occur in the greater part of the Polynesian 

 Islands, especiall y the more eastern ones. As I have already said, it is 

 very difficult to trace the habitat with certainty, as most authors have 

 confounded the two species, and only a few have given short notes as to 

 the coloration or size of their specimens. The following references seem, 

 however, to belong to the present species, the heavy-barred bird : Pau- 

 motu Islands (Peale); Marquesas Islands (Lesson); Tahiti (V. Pelzeln, 

 Forster) ; Tongatabu (Forstor) ; Palmyra (Streets) ; Samoa, Upolu, and 



* His specimen from Ualan is certainly irevipes, and so is probably that from 

 Puynipet. 



