46 Director's Annual Report. 
on the lower ridges, where, as in the valleys on the windward 
side, it grows to an immense size. 
As elsewhere in the group, the timbered area is now more 
limited in extent than formerly. That this reduction in area has 
worked a hardship on the avifauna throughout the islands is well 
known. However, on Molokai more than anywhere else, has the 
change in the forest and its inhabitants been allowed to come about 
naturally, through causes inherent in the fauna and its habitat. 
For this reason, fairly reliable testimony, even of a meagre nature, 
concerning the existence and subsequent disappearance of certain 
birds, before the introduction and spread of foreign plants, animals, 
or conditions, is of great interest. It may be regarded as suggest- 
ing what would probably have occured in time from innate causes 
existing in the fauna or its environment, even though the intro- 
duced causes with which we are familiar, had never become active. 
As a matter of fact, the impending extermination of certain Molo- 
kai birds cannot, in any just way, be attributed to introduced dis- 
turbing conditions. In certain other cases, however, it would 
seem to be entirely due to conditions brought about since the com- 
ing of the white race. 
The weather throughout the trip was, I am told, unusually 
wet and cold. Heavy rains were of almost daily occurrence, while 
cloudy, gloomy weather was almost continuous. ‘This not only 
interfered with collecting, but caused many birds to abandon their 
nests—often after they had been completed, and I had marked 
them for study. 
For much of the success of the trip the writer’s, as well as the 
Museum’s, thanks are due to the directors of the Molokai ranch 
for many special courtesies and privileges. I wish personally, to 
make especial acknowledgment of the kindness and hospitality 
extended by Messrs. James Munro, C. C. Conradt, O. Tollefson 
and C. HE. King. 
