50 Bryan, A Species of Drepanididce. [ 



Auk 

 Jan. 



unhappy situation. For this reason, if for no other, no specimens 

 of any kind save a few palm (Pritchardia remota Becc.) seed were 

 secured. 



The only species of land bird seen by them, and the only species 

 believed to be precinctive to the island, was a small Drepanididoe, 

 undoubtably belonging to the genus Telcspiza. This genus was 

 established for a single species {Telesjnza cantans) from Laysan 

 described originally by Mr. Scott B. Wilson (Ibis, 1890, p. 341). 

 The female of the species from the same island was described by 

 the Hon. Walter Rothschild from Palmer's collection as Tclespiza 

 flavissima (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. X, 1892, p. 110) two years 

 later. 



It is only for want of a specimen in hand that I withhold a new 

 name for this bird which doubtless occurs only on the island of 

 Nihoa and appears to be heretofore unknown and unnamed, and, 

 moreover, to be the last of the Hawaiian avifauna liable to be 

 discovered in the group. 



Captain Brown is well acquainted with the Laysan "Finch" 

 having seen the species at Laysan and also the colony from there 

 that has been established on Midway Island. He believes the 

 male Nihoa bird to be a trifle larger and perhaps yellower over the 

 breast than are the males of the Laysan species. As Nihoa is one 

 of the islands included in the Hawaiian Island Bird Reservation 

 no attempt was made to secure a cabinet specimen; though speci- 

 mens could easily have been collected as the birds like their Laysan 

 cousins are exceedingly inquisitive as well as fearless. He states 

 that specimens could be taken with an ordinary hand-net. It was 

 estimated by the party that there are perhaps a thousand specimens 

 of the 'Nihoa Finch' on the island. 



When Mr. Garl Elschner visited the Island in 1914, for a few 

 hours only, he was engaged chiefly in geologic and chemical investi- 

 gations and made no attempt to study its fauna or flora. 



The "Albatross", during the investigation of the aquatic resources 

 of the Hawaiian Islands, was in the vicinity of Nihoa on two 

 occasions during the voyage to the Leeward Islands of the group 

 in 1902, but the scientists were unable to land. Dr. Walter K. 

 Fisher in his report on the "Birds of Laysan and the Leeward 

 Islands" (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., Vol. XXIII, pt. Ill, p. 778) 



