Sandwich-Island Birds. 185 



in full bloom. I suppose it may occasionally feed on honey, 

 but I never found it so doing, and at any rate it must do so 

 much less than its ally H. sanguinea. Moreover it hunts 

 rather among the ground foliage of the trees than the flower- 

 ing branches. Its commonest note is a low " tweet/' which 

 is something like that of a European Goldcrest {Regulus 

 cristatus), but it has besides a sweet though short song. 

 It is peculiar to the Island of Hawaii and ranges from the 

 lowest forest-zone to 5000 feet or higher. 



6. Himatione chloris. " Amakihi." 



This species is found on the islands of Oahu, Molokai, 

 and Lanai, and, I believe, on Maui, but not on Hawaii or 

 Kauai, and I have often with delight watched it searching 

 for its insect food among the low shrubs of ohia which 

 cover the sunny slopes of the ravines on Molokai, an island 

 better known, alas ! to the world as the Leper Island, but 

 which, in my opinion, is the most lovely island of the group. 

 It is seldom visited by travellers on account of the leper- 

 settlement being situated on its shores, and thus the beauties 

 of its forest scenes ai'e but little known. On Oahu, in the 

 district of Halemanu (house of the birds), this species seems 

 to frequent more especially the depths of the steep and 

 densely wooded ravines, and loves above all trees the 

 gigantic Lobeliacea, the strange foliage and great heads of 

 the purple flowers of which plants are so striking a feature 

 of a Sandwich-Island forest, and one, I believe, only to be 

 met with in these Pacific isles. On the island of Lanai all 

 the specimens which I obtained were shot in some fine 

 guavas quite 30 feet in height, which fringed the edge of 

 the streamlet of the deeply wooded Waiapaa ravine. The 

 birds were so busily engaged in hunting for insects which 

 abound in the guavas, that I had an excellent opportunity 

 of observing their graceful movements. Here I saw the old 

 birds feeding the young with small flies, larvae, and other 

 insects. Examples of this species obtained on the three 

 islands already named are distinguished from each other 

 according to locality, and I have elsewhere indicated the 



