MAMO AND LABRADOR DUCK. 173 



specimens, one of which is in our own national collection, 

 and a few bones. 



Another bird that appears to have become extinct within 

 the last half-century is the beautiful black and golden 

 sickle-bill, or maino (Lrepanornis pacifica), first brought to 

 Europe by Captain Cook after his discovery of the Sand- 

 wich Islands, to which group it was restricted. This bird 

 belonged to the family of honey- suckers, and was remark- 

 able for the length of its curved bill. The brilliant yellow 

 feathers from the back of the bird were used by the 

 Hawaiian chieftains in the manufacture of their gorgeous 

 feather-cloaks ; and as one particular cloak, according to 

 Mr. Scott Wilson, measures four feet in length and more 

 than eleven feet round the base, it may be imagined what 

 a number of birds of eight inches in length and these 

 only yielding the particular feathers on the back would 

 be required for its construction. Indeed, the manufacture 

 of this particular cloak is stated to have lasted through 

 the reigns of eight chieftains ; and it is to the destruction 

 thus caused that Mr. Wilson attributes the extinction of 

 this beautiful bird, now represented in our museums only 

 by some four stuffed examples. 



* In the Antilles a remarkable burrowing petrel, known 

 as the diablotin, is also believed to be now extinct. 



With the handsomely marked Labrador duck (Somateria 

 labradorias), a near ally of the eider-duck, we bring to 

 a close our list of animals which can be pretty definitely 

 affirmed to be extinct, although there are a few others 

 over which the same fate is impending, even if it has not 

 already befallen them. This duck was not unlike the 

 common long-tailed duck (Harelda glacialis) in general 

 coloration and size, although without the long tail of the 

 latter. In the male, the body and primaries are black, and 

 there is also a ring round the neck and a stripe down the 

 head of the same hue ; while all the remainder is white. 

 During the breeding- season this species inhabited 

 Labrador, but in winter its range extended as far south as 

 New Jersey. According to Mr. F. A. Lucas, to whom we 

 are indebted for much information concerning the extinc- 

 tion of several of the species noticed in this chapter, the 



