184 LETTER FROM REV. S. J. WHITMEE. [Mar. 17, 



" It strikes me that the Bidunculi are increasing in numbers. Long 

 ago the Samoans used to • preserve' them. A chief would have a hut 

 in the hush, not far from his house, where the hirds were fed daily ; 

 they were then very numerous and very tame. The introduction 

 of cats (and, I believe, also rats) by European vessels led almost to 

 the extinction of the bird. But within a recent period it must have 

 increased considerably. Only a few years ago I had a native on the 

 search for a Bidunculus for months before he found one. Now the 

 same native will go into the bush any day and almost certainly find 

 at least one. Something may he allowed for a knowledge of the 

 haunts of the bird ; but this will not wholly account for the compa- 

 tive ease with which it may now be found. I believe the habit of 

 the bird has in a great measure changed — that instead of feeding 

 almost exclusively upon the ground as formerly, it now feeds almost 

 exclusively upon high trees, and that it now roosts and builds higher 

 than formerly. I have questioned the natives who have brought me 

 birds ; and the almost uniform testimony is in favour of this view. 

 Hence ' natural selection ' seems now to be operating for the pre- 

 servation of this once almost extinct bird. 



" From the description of the Pareudiastes pacificus by Drs. Hart- 

 laub and Finsch, in P. Z. S. for 18/1, p. 26, I see they have no ac- 

 count of the habits of that bird. Perhaps a few notes on this sub- 

 ject may be interesting to you. 



" I have long known the Pareudiastes by the report of the natives 

 of these islands ; but I first saw the bird last year. I think it was 

 in September 1872 when one was brought to me. It was alive, but 

 only just alive ; for the native who brought it to me had had it in 

 his possession three or four days and had been trying to feed it with 

 vegetable food, which plainly did not suit it. It died a few hours 

 after I first saw it. I did not know at the time whether it had 

 been described or not, as I had not then received the Society's ' Pro- 

 ceedings ' for 1871. I sent the specimen in spirits to Kev. Canon 

 Tristram. I have since then procured another specimen, and have 

 now an egg which is said by the man who found it to be that of this 

 bird. 



" Knowing something of the habits of the Pareudiastes, I was much 

 pleased with the following remark in the paper by Drs. Hartlaub 

 and Finsch: — 'The eyes seem to be uncommonly large ; and this, 

 as well as the other peculiarities, give some right to suspect that 

 this remarkable form will exhibit also interesting peculiarities in 

 respect to its habits.' 



"The Sanoans always speak of the Pareudiastes as the 'bird which 

 burrows like a rat.' Again and again when I have put the question 

 to a native, * Do you know the Puna' el' the reply has been, 'No, 

 I have never seen it ; but that is the bird of which the old people 

 speak that it used to be very plentiful long ago, and that it burrows 

 like a rat and lives underground.' It is very rarely that I have met 

 with any one who has seen the bird ; but I have met with two persons 

 who have actually taken it in its burrow. The first is a man well 

 known to me, and in whose veracity I have faith. He says that 



