^°'i?2^^1 Uksshaw, T/ie Ele^aio o/Nazuaa. 229 



In the deep forests of windward Hawaii the Elepaio is particu- 

 larly abundant and, in addition to over one hundred specimens in 

 hand, the writer has examined in the course of his field studies 

 probably upwards of a thousand individuals ; for the bird is so 

 tame and so curious that it may be called up close to the observer 

 and every marking may be discerned. In all the number that 

 have come under observation, in the field and in the closet, but three 

 individuals have been found from the region above mentioned that 

 show traces of a white loral stripe indicative of the other form. 



Near the above named points however, Ookala on the north and 

 the Volcano on the south, the two forms come together, and here 

 intermediate specimens abound, not a few, indeed, being assign- 

 able with difficulty. As it is at these points that the rainfall begins 

 markedly to lessen, the cause of the change from one form to the 

 other, with the presence of intermediate specimens, is obvious 

 enough. 



As indicative of the part rainfall, with its accompanying 

 changes, plays in the development of the two forms it may be 

 mentioned that in the region above Kealekekua Bay, Kona on the 

 leeward and dry side of the island, where the rainfall rises to over 

 one hundred inches, perhaps ten percent of the Elepaios were 

 found to be intermediate in coloration, the remainder being of the 

 sandwichensis type. 



That the chestnut-faced bird is not simply a stage of plumage of 

 the white-faced form is sufficiently attested by the fact that it is 

 the final adult state of all the birds in the extensive region above 

 named, where the white-faced form does not occur at all, and is 

 only indicated in highly exceptional cases. 



A word may be added as to the names of the two forms. The 

 description of Gmelin's smidtvkhensis was based upon Latham's 

 ' Sandwich Flycatcher,' and seems to have been that of a young 

 bird, or at least not of an adult, as appears from the non -mention 

 of a white rump, always present in the adult, and the stated yellow- 

 ish base of the bill, always so in the juvenile bird, never in the 

 adult. The feet of no form of Chasicmpis are 'black,' but always 

 are blue, lighter blue in the juvenile stage than in the adult. 



All things considered, however, it seems better to overlook the 

 shortcomings and inaccuracies of Gmelin's description, and accept 



