166 Clark, Notes on the Layman Finch. LAprll 



NOTES ON THE LAYSAN FINCH. 



BY HUBERT LYMAN CLARK. 



* SoMK tinu; ago, Dr. W. K. Fisher kindly gave me an alcoholic 

 speciuii-n ol' the Laysan Finch, Tclcspiza cantans Wils., with the 

 suggestion that I examine its pterylosis, comparing it with that 

 of some of its Hawaiian allies as described by Gadow (in Wilson 

 and P>vans' Aves Hawaiienses, j^p. 219-249). Since Tclespiza, 

 however, is one of the very few genera of endemic Hawaiian birds 

 which Gadow had no opportunity to examine, it seemed desirable 

 to examine some of the other features of its anatomy and thus 

 make my notes a sort of addendum to Gadow's work. The rela- 

 tionship of TeJcs'piza to iMxioldcs, Psitlirosfni and Rhodacanthis 

 is so evident- that it would be surju-ising if my investigation threw 

 any new light on the connection between these birds and the other 

 Passeres. I have however compared my Laysan finch in each 

 character examined with a Ghewink, Pijnlo r r j/f/iro phi hahiiu.s-, not 

 because of any possible relationship between the two, but because 

 the chewink is a ground-loving finch not altogether unlike Tclctipiza 

 in its habits. I will take u]) the dillerent points examined in the 

 order adopted by Gadow in his account of Loxioidcs. 



BUI. Gadow sa^^s that the bill of Lo.rioidcfi is "like that of 

 typical Gonirostres and clearly Fringilline, without notches." 

 In Tclespiza, the bill seems to be very similar to that of Loxioidcs, 

 but I am not sure that it is clearly Fringilline. It is not very 

 similar to that of Pipilo nor to those of several other American 

 finches with which I have compared it. Its most nuirked ])eculiari- 

 ties, in addition to the abs(>nce of notches, are the very straight 

 commissural line with hardl}' a trace of being bent downwards at 

 the mucr end and the markedly incurved or inrollcd tomia, which 

 do not appear to form any cutting edge against the upi)er nuuulible. 



Nostrils. The character of the nostrils is one of the most uuirked 

 differences between Tclespiza and Pipilo or any other Fringilline 

 birds with which T have compared it. The openings are large but 

 each is provided above and on the posterior nuirgin with a piece of 

 thick bare skin, apparently corresponding to the opercular fold 

 of many Hawaiian birds. A similar fold, less conspicuous because 



