Avifauna of the Sandwich Islandn. 357 



not succeeded. Meanwhile Mr. Sanford B. Dole, of Honolulu, 

 has published, in the 'Proceedings of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History,' a " Synopsis of the Birds hitherto described 

 from the Hawaiian Islands''*, and has thus saved me further 

 labour on this subject. As, however, my views do not in every 

 respect agree with those of Mr. Dole, and as, moreover, Mr. 

 Dole's memoir appears to have escaped the usually observant 

 eye of the ex-Editor of 'The Ibis,' I request leave to offer a 

 few remarks on the Avifauna of the Sandwich Islands to the 

 readers of this Journal, principally in illustration of Mr. Dole's 

 article. 



Mr. Dole appears to me to have executed his task of compi- 

 lation in a very satisfactory manner, and to have embraced in 

 his list all the species of birds that have been stated by natura- 

 lists to be met with in the Sandwich Islands. The total number 

 of such species enumerated is 48, which, however, Mr. Dole 

 considers to represent "little more than half the Avifauna of 

 the group." By far the gi-eater number of the birds of the 

 Sandwich Islands, he observes, " are found in the mountain- 

 region of the interior, and have thus escaped the naturalists of 

 the various exploring expeditions, whose limited time has been 

 spent on the sea-shore." It is much to be regretted that Mr. 

 Dole (living, as he appears to do, at Honolulu) has not found 

 leisure to explore these mountain-recesses, and to make additions 

 to the list of species which have already been recorded by pre- 

 vious authorities. I trust, however, that he is preparing to do 

 this, and that the present article is only intended as a basis 

 upon which he may build for us a more complete account of 

 the Hawaiian Avifauna. 



The Accipitres enumerated by Mr. Dole embrace only three 

 species — one of the diurnal and two of the nocturnal divi- 

 sion. The small Osprey, Pandion solitarius of Cassin, has 

 been considered by some authorities to be even generically 

 distinct from the ordinary species. Others, however, have 

 been inclined to believe that it would turn out to be only a 

 small variety of the Common Osprey, one of the most universally 

 distributed of known birds. Until more examples of it are 

 * Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist, vol, xii. p. 294. 



