the Study of the Drepanididse. 573 



naturally followed. In this connexion it is interesting to 

 note that the rather strong-billed Chlorodrepanis stejnegeri 

 of Kauai^ so far as I know^ stands alone amongst the brush- 

 tongued forms in feeding freely on fruits ; for at certain 

 seasons it voraciously devours the berries of the poisonous 

 Wikstrcemia, in the same manner as Phaornis. Such a 

 species — becoming more and morefrugivorous and abandoning 

 flowers forfruits — may be considered as potentially the ancestor 

 of a new series of thick-billed forms ; at present it is largely a 

 honey-sucker^ largely insectivorous_, and on occasion largely 

 frugivorous. A line may be traced among the thick-billed 

 forms of Hawaii through the purely insectivorous Pseudo- 

 nestor to the largely frugivorous, but still largely insectivorous^ 

 Psittacirostra, ending in Chloridops, which has become 

 almost entirely frugivorous. 



8. Distribution of Genera in the Islands. 

 The distribution of the genera within the group is very 

 unequal, only five of the eighteen having a range which covers 

 all the islands that are forest-clad. These are Vestiaria, 

 Himaiione, Chlorodr-epanis, Oreomyza, and Psittacirostra. 

 Three others, Hemignathus, Ueterorhynchus, and Loxops, are 

 found on four islands, a species of each inhabiting Kauai and 

 a second Hawaii, the two extreme forest- bearing islands of 

 the Archipelago. One, Palmeria, inhabits only Maui and 

 the neighbouring island of Molokai. Drepanorhamphus is 

 peculiar to Molokai, Pseudonestor to Maui, Telespiza to 

 distant Laysan. Hawaii has no less than six genera peculiar 

 to itself — Drepanis, Ciridops, Viridonia, Loxioides, Rhod- 

 acanthis, and Chloridops. 



9. Distribution of Species. 



The distribution of the species is fully given in the 

 table (p. 574). One form, Heterorhynchus lucidus, is almost 

 certainly extinct, while several others, if not extinct, are so 

 extremely rare as to be very nearly so. On examining the 

 table of distribution it is at once noticeable that the birds 

 may be divided into two very strongly contrasted classes. 



SER. VIII. VOL. I. 2q 



