Sandwich-Island Birds. 177 



species of ferns and graceful creepers that a Hawaiian forest 

 owes much of its beauty, though one cannot help lamenting 

 the absence of epiphytal orchids, which form such a lovely 

 feature in many tropical forests. In some few favoured spots 

 the broad-leaved banana rears its stately head, and here, in 

 these sheltered spots, its grand leaves are perfect in their 

 beauty, not torn to ribbons by the blustering wind, as one 

 sees them around Honolulu and in other exposed positions. 

 Among other fruits found in the lower forest-zone are the 

 prolific guava, the orange, and the mango, on the fruits of 

 all of which in their season certain birds delight to feed. 



But now to turn to the birds which inhabit the forests 

 whose beauties I have just endeavoured to indicate. I in- 

 tend the present paper as a slight sketch to be elaborated in 

 the large work which in due time I hope to publish on the 

 ornithology of the Sandwich Islands ; and accordingly. I 

 shall not here attempt any critical examination of the 

 distribution of the species among the different members 

 of the group, nor to treat any of the species in an ex- 

 haustive manner. Indeed, on this occasion, I shall merely 

 mention a few, of which my knowledge is, I trust, suf- 

 ficient to guard me against the commission of any grave 

 errors, while most of them are also birds concerning which 

 I do not expect to gain much more information from inves- 

 tigations which, at my request, are still being carried on in 

 regard to other species. 



I may add that what I have to say of the habits of the 

 birds is derived entirely from my own observations. 



1. ACRULOCERCUS* NOBILIS. " O-O." 



This, the Royal Bird of modern times, is perhaps the best 

 known of any species to both the natives and foreign resi- 



* As, in my forthcoming work, I intend to adopt Prof. Cabanis's 

 generic term Acrulocercus in place of Moho or Mohoa, one or the other 

 of which has been commonly used, I may here give my reasons for pre- 

 ferring the former. Prof. Newton has pointed out to me that, as a generic 

 name, Moho dates only from Gray's ' Genera of Birds ' (i. p. 96) in 1847, in 

 which year Prof. Cabanis published Acrulocercus (Archiv fiir Naturgesch. 

 xiii. p. 327). Gray was careful not to quote Moho as a " genus " founded 



