^0 2 Bryan, List of Hatvaiian Birds. I Oct. 



I 



A LIST OF THE HAWAIIAN BIRDS IN THE ST. LOUIS 



COLLEGE COLLECTION, HONOLULU, H. I., 



INCLUDING RECORDS OF SEVERAL 



NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 



BY WILLIAM ALANSON BRYAN. 



The isolated position of the Hawaiian Islands has long made 

 them of great interest to ornithologists in general, while American 

 observers, especially since the newly awakened interest in the 

 group, have come to look upon them as an important outlying 

 station where the occurrence of some of the wide-ranging conti- 

 nental forms may be studied with advantage. 



The local observer finds the study of the indigenous avifauna is 

 made much more interesting by noting the rare visitors which 

 from time to time come to our shores, since they may be taken as 

 indicating the probable direction whence the native birds have 

 come, and in this way aid in tracing out their affinities. 



The dearth of competent observers in remote places has always 

 been deplored. It is on account of this fact that I gladly availed 

 myself of the opportunity offered to carefully examine the inter- 

 esting collection of Hawaiian birds, which for the most part has 

 been brought together through the painstaking efforts of Mr. M. 

 Newell, and which is now in the possession of St. Louis College, 

 Honolulu. 



Brother Matthias, as Mr. Newell is familiarly known to the 

 Catholic brotherhood, came to the Islands some seventeen years 

 ago from San Antonio. Texas, where he had already gained the 

 local title of ' Rattlesnake-catcher,' owing to his zeal in the various 

 branches of natural history. From the Brothers at the college I 

 learn that after a year's residence in Honolulu he moved to Wai- 

 luku on Maui, where he spent fourteen years in the Catholic 

 mission in lao valley. It is at this point that most of the collec- 

 tion noted below was made. From Wailuku Mr. Newell was re- 

 moved to Hilo on Hawaii, where he still carries on his work and 

 observations. 



I cannot too earnestly call attention to the value and importance 

 which attaches to a local collection of the rare and curious birds 



