52 Director's . Xnnual Report. 



uniformity <>t color and size exhibited by it. A table showing the 

 maximum, minimum and average measurements of the series is 

 given, the measurements being in inches. The culminicorn is 

 measured from the anterior end of the nostril to the tip of the bill. 



The average length of both sexes is about 15.50. A Jnne 

 female of its nearest relative, AZstrelata phceopygia Salvin, from 

 the Galapagos Ids., in the Museum's collection, measures: wing 

 11.85, tail 5-5°- tarsus 1.45, toe 2.00, culmen 1.35, depth of bill .62, 

 culminicorn .96. The measurements of a series of birds from the 

 Galapagos, as given by Rothschild (Avifauna of L,aysan, etc., p. 

 290), is '"wing from 1 1 .6 to 12.50, averaging from ii.Sto 12 inches, 

 tail 5.8 to 6.3 and 6.4, metatarsus about 1.4 to 1.5." 



It will be noted that the Museum's specimens from the Gala- 

 pagos, with the exception of the tail, falls well within the average, 

 as quoted from Rothschild. The specimen may, therefore, be taken 

 as a representative of that series. vSince it is a June specimen, it 

 is specially useful in comparison with the Molokai series. 



In comparison, it will be seen that in all maximum dimen- 

 sions, the Hawaiian birds fall safely below the minimum given for 

 the Galapagos series, but nowhere is this difference more notice- 

 able than in the size and form of the beak. This difference, though 

 marked, is difficult to describe, but it may be stated definitely that 

 in sandwichensis the bill is much more slender, the nail more 

 strongly deflected at the tip, and the nostrils thinner and less promi- 

 nent. These differences are constant throughout the Molokai 

 series. The color characters are even more obscure. However, 

 the slaty black terminal bands on three or four of the shorter 



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