OF THE HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



II 



Wilson. It is probably nearly extinct, colleAors of late years having failed to find it. 

 In 1890 I saw three in a sandal-wood tree under which I was camping on the slopes of 

 Manna Hualalai on Hawaii (to which island the species is confined) at an elevation of 

 yooodz feet. The Mills specimens were obtained, so Mr. Mills informed me in 1864, 

 near Olaa in Puna. The Kamehameha cloak in the Bishop Museum ( No. i of the 

 catalogue given below) is composed wholly of these feathers; so also is a fine lei in 

 the same colleAion. The bird is about 8 inches long. Fig. 5, r, d. The general 

 plumage is not of so rich a black as the 00, while the lower part of the body, the rump, 

 thighs, anterior margin of wings and tail coverts are of a rich orange. Among 

 Hawaiian birds the niamo is facile pr/j/ccps. Its name has been applied to all royal 

 war-cloaks very much as "beaver" has clung to a soft hat no longer made of the fur of 

 the Castor fiber. The principal color of the orange feather seems to be represented 

 by the jaune metanile sur laine, 2% shown on p. 446 of Lefevre's work. To distin- 

 guish these feathers when faded from the 00 is not always easy, but the orange of the 

 former is separated from the black base by a marked white space, and the tips of the 

 00 feathers are thinner and larger. 



Koae. — The Tropic bird (P/ia?///i)ii (Clhcrfiis, Bloxam), Boatswain bird, Paille- 

 en-queue, Pj'lstaart, is shown in PI. Y. with its young. It breeds among the loose 

 rocks of the bird islands or on ledges of almost inaccessible cliffs on Oahu and other 

 inhabited islands, where its white form hovering like a kite in the air against the 

 green palis is often seen late in the afternoon. The long tail-feathers of the adult 

 and the mottled plumage of the young were used to some extent in the fabrication of 

 kahilis, but by no means so frequently as the feathers of the next species. 



Koae ula. — At present the Red-tailed Tropic bird {I'//ariIio)i ntbriiaiida, 

 Salvin), while found occasionally on Niihau and the outlying islets is abundant on 

 Nihoa and Necker Islands. On the latter island I have pulled the red tail feathers 

 from the sitting bird who did not seem to greatly resent the outrage; perhaps at that 

 season the feathers are more loosely attached, preparatory to moulting. While these 

 two feathers form the important part, were greatly sought and highly valued, the 

 satiny white of the body plumage was also much in demand for capes, although little 

 of this white work is extant in museums: the only two specimens I have found are at 

 Florence; Nos. 66 and 67 in the List of Ahuula. 



Iwa. — The Frigate bird [Fregata ai]nila, Gould), also called the Man-of-war 

 hawk, was hunted for its long black metallic-tinted feathers, both for cloaks and for 

 kahilis. Common in the nesting season on Necker Island. In ancient days fishermen 

 made frequent excursions to Nihoa and Necker Islands. The landing places (only 

 one on each island) were so situated that landing was possible on one or the other 

 island in whatever wind. On the latter island, which is the narrow rim of a ruined 



