PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



385 



previous collection are olive gray on the back, the rump being distinctly 

 yellowish olive, as are also the flanks; sides of head and neck are also 

 grayish like the back, while the whole middle line from chin to anal 

 region is pure yellow. According to Knudsen each collection contained 

 a pair, but the difference seems much less likely to be one of age than 

 of sex. There seems to be no good a priori reason against the assump- 

 tion of the existence of two closely allied species of Hemignathus on 

 Kauai, as the differences which I have pointed out above are but little 

 less marked than those which separate Himatione parva from my so- 

 called H. chloris (nee Cab.). For the present, however, I think it better 

 to assume that the specimens have been erroneously sexed, and that 

 the brighter and larger specimens are the males of the present species. 

 Measurements. 



Vestiaria coccinea (Merr.). 



Olokele. 



Two adults and two young birds of this species, the latter particu- 

 larly interesting. 



No. 116793 has not yet commenced to molt. It is of a dull ocher-yel- 

 low, brightest on fore neck and chest, duller and more olive on back, 

 tips of feathers more or less distinctly bordered with black; almost the 

 whole of the innermost tertial and the inner web and tip of the next 

 one light gray, the first mentioned feather somewhat darker in the 

 outer web; bill horny yellow, except culmen which is blackish; legs 

 dark horny brown. jSTo. 116792 is apparently a little older. Red feath- 

 ers, mostly still in their sheaths, are protruding all over the body; the 

 bill is reddish orange, dusky at base of upper, mandible, and the legs 

 have become a light yellowish brown ; the tertials are colored as in the 

 foregoing specimen. This point is well worth mentioning, as Sharpe 

 (Cat. B. Brit. Mus., X, p. 7) describes a young female from Hilo, Island 

 of Hawaii, as having the inner webs of the tertiaries white. It is quite 

 possible that the young birds from the various islands show tangible 

 differences which may become obliterated in the old ones as they assume 



the red plumage. 



Oreomyza bairdi Stejn. 



Akakane. 



One specimen (No. 116795) agrees very closely with the types. It 

 measures as follows: Wing, 69 mm ; tail-feathers, 44 mm ; exposed culmen i 

 12.5 mm ; tarsus, 20 ,m " ; middle toe, with claw, 16" lia ; hind toe, without 

 claw, 10 mm . 



Proc. K M. 89 25 



