562 PASSERIFORMES CHAP, 
a rich song in Hulabes; but most forms whistle, chatter, or 
utter harsh sounds; and many are extraordinary mimics, or even 
talk, like the Starling and the Myna, under tuition. By the more 
typical forms a rough nest of straw, twigs, rags, wool, or feathers 
is placed in holes in trees, walls, or banks ; under eaves ; in burrows 
or stone-heaps: from four to seven uniform hght blue or whitish 
egos being deposited. Stwrnopastor, alone or in societies, affixes a 
huge structure to the outer branches of trees or bushes; Dilophus 
makes a neater cup in similar situations; Calornis, which usually 
forms colonies, suspends from the boughs a bulky bottle-shaped 
structure with a side-entrance, and so forth. Even our Starling 
at times builds an open nest. The Eulabetidae generally lay 
spotted eggs, Dilophus occasionally ; Calornis has them greenish 
with reddish-brown marks. 
Fam. XXV. Drepanididae.—According to the latest views, 
namely those of Dr. Gadow,' this group contains only the curious 
forms below, which are all pecuhar to the Sandwich Islands. 
In most of them the semi-tubular tongue is dorsally frayed out 
into a single brush, but in several thick-billed species it is but 
shehtly tubular, and is spht or frayed. The non-serrated beak 
varies greatly, being elongated and arched in Vestiaria ; very long 
and curved with projecting maxilla in Drepanis and Hemignathus ; 
and similar, but with the upcurved or straight mandible only about 
half as long as the maxilla in Heterorhynchus. In Himatione, 
Oreomyza, Loxops, Palmeria, Ciridops, and Chrysomitridops it 1s 
much shorter and little decurved; in Psittacirostra, Loxioides, 
Chloridops, and Rhodacanthis it 1s stout, Finch-hke, and hooked, 
being enormously developed in the last two; in the extraordinary 
Pseudonestor it is Parrot-like. In Loxops the mandible 1s twisted 
indifferently to either side, possibly by constant use. Over the 
nostrils an operculum is often present; but bristles of all kinds 
are absent. The scutes of the moderate metatarsus shew a tend- 
ency to fusion; the wings are of medium length, with a hardly 
visible outer primary. The tail is rather short and nearly square, 
having pointed rectrices in Vestiaria and Drepanis ; and exhibits 
a tendency to forking. Fluffy feathering constantly characterizes 
the back, flanks, or axillary region. There is a more or less 
1 Cf. Wilson and Evans, Aves Hawatienses, pt. ii. 1891, pp. 17-21; pt. vil. 1899, 
pp. 1-7; and, for the Family generally, the same work, Rothschild, Avifawna 
of Laysan, and Perkins, Jbis, 1893, pp. 101-112. 
