The diversity of appearance in these drepanids has long attracted attention. In an 

 isolated habitat, with many islands available for colonization yet providing the isola- 

 tion needed for speciation, the originally single stock has evolved in many different 

 directions. Colors are black, golden, red, green and yellow; bills vary from short, for 

 insect-eating, to long and slender, for sipping nectar from blossoms; and there are 

 some heavy, almost finch-like or parrot-like beaks, for cracking seeds. All are small 

 birds of sparrow size. 



EXTINCTION OF SPECIES 



Many of the endemic species are gone — extinct. Bryan and Greenway (1944) listed 

 about eight species of perching birds as extinct or probably so, and another ten as very 

 rare or possibly extinct. This is a high proportion of the perching birds listed. It has 

 been thought that feather hunters exterminated them or that they were chased away 

 by the introduced minah bird or had their eggs destroyed by the introduced mon- 

 goose. But the real reason lies deeper. Settlers arrived. They cut down the forest and 

 planted sugar cane and pineapples; they introduced cattle, pigs, and goats, which con- 

 tributed to the damage of the forest and made the land vulnerable to erosion. Foreign 

 plants and foreign birds were imported. With the habitats destroyed, some of the 

 native birds disappeared; some still exist in the remaining restricted areas of forest. 



FOREIGN BIRDS 



In and about Honolulu it is not native birds that one sees, but introduced species. 

 About 94 foreign species have been introduced, and about 53 have become estab- 

 lished, according to Bryan and Greenway. They have Ijeen brought from many places: 

 pheasants from Mongolia and Java; grouse and quail from America, China, and 

 Australia; partridges from the Himalayas; doves and pigeons from Panama and Ma- 

 laya. The skylark, the cardinal, the willie wagtail, the meadowlark and the minah il- 

 lustrate the catholic taste in importation. And yet one wonders how much of the loss 

 of the native birds could have been prevented. To grow food crops it was necessary to 

 destroy forests, and when the forests were destroyed the forest birds went with them. 

 Let us hope that forest preserves save the remainder from destruction. 



'47] 



