Field Notes on the Birds of Oahti. 41 



The Elepaio Ls always keenly alert for insecfls, and occasion- 

 ally takes them on the wing with an audible snap of the bill. In 

 the large series of these birds taken all had their stomachs perfectly 

 gorged with inse(5ls and larvae. I have frequently timed them to 

 see how many inse(5ls they really would destroy in five minutes. 

 One feeding almost within reach of me in that length of time caught 

 first, a leaf-hopper; second, a small moth; third, another leaf- 

 hopper; and fourth, a caterpillar that required three or four gulps 

 to swallow, it w^as so large. The strange thing is they seem to be 

 always feeding, so the rapidity of their digestive power is remark- 

 able. To birds other than their own tribe the Elepaio is a pugna- 

 cious little body, and I have seen them chase the larger Apapane 

 iyH. sanguinea) away from a particularly good feeding ground. 

 By February i the mating season had arrived for these birds, and 

 I observed them sporting with their mates. As yet I have been 

 unable to find their nests. On March 14, how^ever, I shot a female 

 wnth an ^-g-g, now in the Bishop Museum, that was almost ready 

 for exclusion. 



This bird shows the most remarkable range of variations in its 

 plumage, so that a very large series is required to gain any ade- 

 quate idea of the age and seasonal variations. Not wishing to 

 kill more than was absolutely necessary, the number of these 

 birds taken was confined to six to ten each month, nothing near 

 a duplicate has ^^et been found. For example, I have before 

 me a male taken January 3 : bill, entirely black ; feet and tarsus, 

 dark with bluish cast; eye, dark hazel; general color above, tawn^^ 

 ochraceous, brightest on upper tail-coverts and sides of neck ; 

 top of head very little brighter than mantle ; the feathers of the 

 mantle are broadly tipped with brighter ochraceous which gives 

 the mantle an indistin(5lly mottled appearance ; the rufous of the 

 upper tail-coverts extends as a band entirely around the anal re- 

 gion of the body, although not so bright on the under tail-coverts ; 

 wdng-coverts tipped wnth bright rufous and without any trace of 

 wdiite ; throat, breast and flanks, tawny ochraceous ; belly and tips 

 of tail feathers, except the two middle ones, white ; testes enlarged, 

 .29X.19. This was a bird that would evidently breed the coming 

 season. Length, 5.16; wing, 2.63; tail, 2.25; tarsus, .93; cul- 

 men, .50; depth at nostrils, .19; mid-toe and claw, .62. A male 

 taken March 15, with plumage exacflly the same shade of color, 

 with possibly a .shade less of rufous on flanks and breast, has 



