HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 47 



mon, and in others rare. Throughout the Olaa woods, for in- 

 stance, even at an elevation at from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, the species 

 is rare, but in the forests of mixed koa and ohia along the Wai- 

 luku river it is numerous. The bird is common also in the koa 

 woods above the volcano. It appears not to be found at all at 

 low elevations, but occurs from about 2,000 feet upwards. 



So nearly of a size are the amakihi and this species, and from 

 a distance so nearly alike in color, that by the novice they may be 

 easily mistaken one for the other. In habits, however, they are 

 quite unlike. Whereas the amakihi, as above stated, hunts for 

 insects among the foliage and the smaller twigs, the present 

 species creeps along the trunks and the larger branches, gleaning 

 from the interstices of the bark and from the mosses and lichens 

 its insect fare. Its food consists very largely of the larvae of 

 beetles, which its sharp, straight bill enables it to procure with 

 ease, provided they are not deeply hidden. In respect to its food 

 and its general habits, the olive-green creeper may well be com- 

 pared with the akialoa. Both birds frequent the same localities, 

 live upon much the same food, and procure it in much the same 

 way, save that the much longer bill of the akialoa enables it to 

 explore depths for the hidden larvae which the other cannot reach. 

 So far as I am aware the Oreomysa never touches honey. 



Description. — Adult. Upper parts dull green, brighter on rump ; feath- 

 ers of head with dusky centers giving a slightly mottled appearance. 

 Under parts greenish buflf, shading into yellow on abdomen and into whit- 

 ish on chin and throat. Wings and tail blackish brown, margined with 

 green. Lores and space beneath eye black, in some specimens tending to 

 orbital ring. Legs brown; Maxilla dark brown; lower mandible light 

 brown ; length about 4.50. 



Specimens in the juv. plumage have the abdomen cream color, the chin 

 and throat almost white, with a superciliary line of white which, in one 

 specimen, extends clear across the forehead. In very young birds the 

 lower mandible is yellow. 



Oreomyza perkinsi Rothschild. Perkins' Creeper. 



Concerning this newly described species I quote as follows from 

 Rothschild:' "This remarkable specimen has a long but straight 

 bill; the nostrils are covered by an operculuni, which, however, 



