192 Mr. Scott Wilson on some 



siderable numbers in the month of January, when these trees 

 are in full flower, resembling laburnums with their golden 

 clusters. The bark of large examples of this tree is easily 

 detachable, but although I was never able to approach near 

 enough to watch the precise way in which the extraordinarily- 

 shaped bill of this species is brought into play, I conclude 

 that therewith it does detach the bark, and then seizes the 

 insects beneath with its long tongue. 



13. Hemignathus lucidus. 



Hemignathus lucidus, Licht. Abhandl. Akad. Berl. 1838, 

 p. 451, t. v. figs. 2, 3. 



This species has been most wrongly confounded with the 

 preceding, as anyone may perceive who examines specimens 

 of the two, for the present has by no means the same very 

 remarkable form of mandible as H. olivaceus. I hope to 

 give figures of both in my forthcoming work. H. lucidus 

 formerly inhahitcd Oahu, but I did not meet with it, and fear 

 that, like H. lichtensteini, it may have become extinct ; there 

 are, however, many more specimens of H. lucidus existing in 

 collections than of H. lichtensteini. 



14. Hemignathus hanapepe. (Plate VI. fig. 1.) 

 Hemignathus hanapepe, Wilson, Ann. Mag. N. II. torn. cit. 



p. 401. 



This species is the only one of the genus to which the 

 natives have given a different name — " Akihiloa," or " Aki- 

 aloa, as it is often called, being applied by them to all the 

 rest, while " Nukupuu " (from Nuku, bill) is used for this 

 alone. That it is a very scarce bird in the forests of Kauai 

 is pretty clearly shown by the fact that my friend Mr. Francis 

 Gay, of Makaweii, in that island, who for some years past has 

 paid attention to its birds, had never seen specimens of this 

 one, until I showed him those which I had been fortunate 

 enough to procure in the forest surrounding the little moun- 

 tain-house belonging to the Sinclair family in the district of 

 Hanapepe, after which I named my new discovery. In this 

 house, to which Mr. Robinson most kindly accompanied me, 

 some five hours' ride from any other habitation, and at an 



