184 riilrfrsHij of California Puhlicaiions in Zoology. [Vol.7 



tion as to date or source of introdiu-tion of the house-finch into 

 the Hawaiian Islands. He further stated : ' ' While connected 

 with the Bishop IMuseum I collected a number of specimens at 

 various seasons of the year and under different conditions, and 

 found the color to which you refer to vary widely among indi- 

 viduals. * * * "While I have written nothing on the subject, 

 my impressions and observations lead me to the belief that the 

 variation in color between crimson and yellow is individual and 

 seasonal rather than environmental." 



Under date of November 1, 1910, Mr. Loye Holmes IMiller 

 writes me as follows : ' ' I saw linnets on three of the Islands, 

 namely Oahu, Hawaii and Kaui, in the spring of 1903. My im- 

 pression was that the birds were less brightly colored as a rule 

 than those of the California coast. On the islands of Hawaii and 

 Oahu I do not recall seeing the yellow phase at all. On the island 

 of Kaui, however, several were seen in the course of a week's stay. 

 It may serve as some indication as to the proportion in which 

 the yellow birds occurred to state that on my starting out to 

 obtain actual specimens of the yellow-plumaged phase, none were 

 encountered during an afternoon's hunt, though the ordinary 

 (red) form was not uncommon." 



The above data indicate that eight to ten years ago there 

 were many red or crimson linnets on the Hawaiian Islands, and 

 that off-color birds were present also, but in smaller proportion. 

 The species was then already widely distributed. I regret 

 exceedingly not being able to obtain for examination any speci- 

 mens collected at that time. The evidence given above is the. only 

 available basis of judgment. 



While the opinion is everywhere held that the linnets of 

 Hawaii were introduced from California, I have been unable to 

 get satisfactory historical data. From three sources — old resi- 

 dents of Honolulu — I am assured that there were linnets there 

 at least as long ago as 1870. But the parties in question were 

 confessedly not particularly observant of birds. 



It is supposed that the linnets originally introduced into the 

 Hawaiian Islands were procured from the vicinity of San Fran- 

 cisco. Comparison of the series of Hawaiian birds at hand, both 

 males and females, with a series from the San Francisco Bay 



