38 HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



numerous in the still denser forest of koa and ohia north of the 

 Wailuku river, though by no means common even there. It is 

 probably more numerous in Kona. 



The stout legs and sharp claws of this bird enable it to pass 

 rapidly over the large limbs of koa and ohia, and to cling in any 

 and to seize from their hiding places in the tangles of ferns and 

 mosses various sorts of grubs, beetles and their larvae which are 

 its chosen food. I have never seen the akialoa feeding upon the 

 nectar of flowers though other observers have, but it is probably 

 a rare habit. 



The akialoa is especially fond of probing into the deep, cup- 

 shaped leaf clusters of the ieie vine. These are usually full of 

 dead leaves and fallen trash, in the recesses of which insects are 

 perfectly safe from all birds except the akialoa and its relative, 

 the akiapolaau, the latter being furnished with a similar hooked 

 probe. I have no doubt that the peculiar leaf clusters of the ieie 

 have had more to do with the development of the extraordinary 

 bills of these two birds than anything else. 



The akialoa has a chai;acteristic call, but I have never heard it 

 sing, though I have often met with the pairs in the breeding 

 season. 



Description. — Adult. Above bright oil-green; wing and tail quills dusky 

 brown, margined with dull green; a well defined supercihary stripe of 

 gamboge-yellow. Lores black. Beneath dull olive green; legs and feet 

 plumbeus ; bill bluish black, base plumbeus. Length about 6.S inches. 



Juv. Dull olive above, tinged with green; beneath olive-yellow; sides 

 and flanks warm olive; superciliaries pale yellow. 



Hemignathus procerus Cab. liwi. 



This Kauai species is said to be known to the natives by the 

 name iivvi. If so the transfer of names is somewhat surprising. 

 The bill is even of more extraordinary proportions than that of 

 the former species. Its chief food, no doubt, is insects, but, ac- 

 cording to Mr. G. C. Munroe, it also sucks honey from the lehua 

 flowers. This observer also reports that the species has a sweet 

 song. 



We learn from him further that "this bird is much more com- 

 mon and enjoys a wider range than the nukupuu, which bird it 



