136 Direftor' s Annual Report. 



moss aud lichens, into which are loosely placed weed stems, skele- 

 tons of leaves, and a few roots. The inside lining is made up almost 

 entirely of stiff black hair-like rootlets. The nest is 3.50 inches 

 deep by 4.00 broad outside; inside it is 2.25 across the bowl by 

 1.50 deep. In general appearance it more closely resembles nests 

 of Chlorodrcpanis and Hiniationc than it does the nests of Orcowyza 

 in the Museum. 



A close study of the material secured has resulted in placing 

 parva in the genus ChlorodrcpiDiis (Memoirs B. P. B. Mus., Vol. I., 

 pt. 3, p. 46). Oi'eomyza bairdi, which is given by Dr. Steineger 

 as the type of the genus Orcojnyza, has the tongue but slighth^ 

 rolled up on the edges, and the tip is bifurcated; while in parva it 

 is perfedlly tubular in form, with the brush-like ciliae at the tip, 

 which is a characfter well marked in all the members of the Chloro- 

 drcpanis genus. In 2.A\x\\. parva the edges of the tongue meet and 

 roll past each other to form the sucking tube. While in the very 

 3'oung, as exhibited b}' the nestlings just mentioned, the tongue 

 .shows no marked lateral rolling, nor does it meet to form a tube. 

 This would seem to indicate most clearly that this form has been 

 evolved from an ancestral type in which this organ was normal, 

 and would remove the form farther from the parental stem than the 

 more typical genus Orcomyza. 



Oreomy^a bairdi Stejn. Akikihi. 



We .secured a good series of this energetic little creeper-like 

 bird. In its search for food it would often come down on the ferns 

 and trunks of trees to within a couple of feet of the ground, but it 

 was never seen to alight on the ground . On other occa.sions it was 

 seen feeding high up among the ohia branches, but always keeping 

 to the bark and limbs, where its antics remind one of the nut 

 hatches of America. In habit it is totally different from either of 

 the Chlorodrepanis of Kauai. 



I/Oxops cseruleirostris (Wils.). Ou holowai. 



On the ridges two or three miles above Kaholuamano this 

 species is quite plentiful, feeding about the blooming ohia. They 

 are somewhat gregarious — eight to fifteen will sometimes alight in 

 a clump of trees. Their graceful movements and beautiful olive 

 and yellow plumage make them one of the one of the most charm- 

 ing of the Kauai mountain birds. Young birds were .secured which 

 would indicate that the breeding sea.son was as early as February. 



Hemignathus procerus Cab. Kauai Akialoa. 



We collecfted four specimens of this bird and saw a number of 

 others. One young male (Mus. No. 9220) taken April 27 is in a 

 plumage that would make February or March the probable nesting 



