126 Mr. R. C. L. Perkins on 



markable call. I forced through about ten yards, and then I 

 saw the bird clearly, perched across a bough, straight in front 

 of me, and obviously very uneasy. I fired instantly, and the 

 bird dropped straight in thick brush ; but I marked a twig it 

 shook in its fall, and gathered it up at once. To my surprise 

 I saw no sign of yellow ear-feathers, nor indeed any yellow 

 feathers at all, but befoi'e I had time to fully realize this I 

 heard just ahead the same cry. Throwing down axe and hat, 

 and the bird into the latter, I pushed on, and saw another 

 similar bird, no doubt the mate of the one just shot. It 

 was restless, and I got but a view of its head and part of the 

 body. However, it dropped as straight as the first one, and 

 in a clearer place, so I easily found it. Then I saw at once 

 I had no ' Oo,' but a Hemignathus-like creature with 

 shortened mandible, and the excessively strong smell which 

 is characteristic of the Drepanididse. 



" All the feathers on the top of the head of each were 

 covered with a white sticky substance, apparently pollen of 

 some flower, and they are no doubt honey-sucking birds. 

 The cry is not of the loud character of that of the ' Oo,' but 

 is startlingly clear, and could probably be heard at a 

 considerable distance." 



June 27th. — " Saw an 'Oo ' and Drepanis * in the same tree 

 with a number of the red Hhnatione. The ' Oo ' was out of 

 voice, and its cry closely resembled that of the Drepanis. But 

 for its long tail the former could hardly have been distin- 

 guished from the latter in the dense foliage. The * Oo ' many 

 times drove the other from the tree, to which it as invariably 

 returned. In its turn the latter would drive away the red 

 birds, and either one or the other drove off a casual Palmeria 

 that came thither.^' I shot all three, first the " Oo,''^ then 

 Drepanis, and lastly the Palmeria. 



Like the other Drepanidid8e,i)./Mwerea is also insectivorous. 

 "The specimen obtained I watched for some time before 



* I have substituted the name Drepanis for the various appellations 

 by which I distinguished these birds in my notes. At the time I 

 considered it a Elemignathu^, or of a new genua connecting Hemignathus 

 with Drejyanis. 



