42 Canon Tristram on the 



ments are most exact, excepting that he states the tail to be 

 yellow, yet, I fear, when we unite the genus with Acroce- 

 phalus, his name cannot stand, having long been appropriated 

 to another species. Sparrman^s name must be rejected for 

 its inaccuracy. Lesson^s term is very appropriate, being the 

 vernacular name of the bird in the Society Islands. Gmelin, 

 after Latham, states it is found in Eimeo. Lesson's bird was 

 procured in Tahiti. Latham's type in the Derby Museum, 

 from Eimeo, and my own from Tahiti and Huaheina, are 

 absolutely identical. But I can find no indisputable evidence 

 of the occurrence of the species beyond the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the Society-Islands group. It is indeed com- 

 monly spoken of as generally distributed in Oceania. Peale 

 speaks of it as a well-known inhabitant of the Sandwich 

 Islands (where it has never been found), and states that he 

 obtained specimens of this variable species in the Paumotu 

 Islands, Tahiti, the Samoan Islands, Tongatabu, and sundry 

 other places in the South Pacific Ocean ; and that it is the 

 most widely spread of all the Polynesian land-birds. Mr. 

 Whitmee never found it in the Samoas, and doubts its exis- 

 tence there. Mr. Layard repeats tlie same of Tongatabu. ■ I 

 have never seen a specimen except from the Society and Pau- 

 motu Islands ; and, so far as our present knowledge goes, I 

 think we may restrict its habitat to these groups, specimens 

 from the Marquesas belonging to the next species. Mr. A. 

 Garrett, who has collected for me in several of the oceanic 

 groups, reports that he considers it the rarest of all the Poly- 

 nesian birds, and that it is rapidly becoming extinct. Several 

 writers speak of the great individual variation in Tatare ; but 

 until the localities have been clearly ascertained we may be 

 free to question this. In all adult specimens from the Society 

 Islands I have never seen any differences save in size. Herr v. 

 Pelzeln (Ibis, 1873, p. 24) pleads earnestly fort wo Tahitian 

 species ; but he does not differentiate the sexes, nor does he 

 notice the characters which distinguish the Marquesas bird. 

 His larger specimen has the bill incurved and the outer tail- 

 feathers white. 



The next species I formerly, through unpardonable care- 



