HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 25 



by the early investigators. It seems probable that the Island of 

 Hawaii supplied the larger number of specimens to Cook's col- 

 lectors, but in the case of any given species there can be no cer- 

 tainty. Owing chiefly to this doubt as to the exact point of 

 origin, some of the species described by Gmelin have proved 

 stumbling blocks to ornithologists ever since the descriptions ap- 

 peared. 



The quarter of a century that followed the discovery of the 

 Islands is a blank, so far as their ornithological history is con- 

 cerned; they were frequently visited by ships but not by nat- 

 uralists. 



In 1816-17 Chamisso and Eschscholtz accompanied Kotzebue 

 in his visit to the islands, but these naturalists seem to have paid 

 no attention whatever to the island birds. 



In 1824 H. M. S. "Blonde" visited the islands having on board 

 Mr. Andrew Bloxam, "who was something of a naturalist," and 

 it was intended that the published account of the voyage should 

 contain a proper appendix on the natural history of the islands. 

 Of the natural history report of this voyage Mr. Newton says: 

 "An appendix there indeed is, but one utterly unworthy of its 

 reputed author, for the book was edited by a lady who had noth- 

 ing but a few of his notes to guide her, and though assisted, as it 

 is stated, by 'the gentleman connected with that department in 

 the British Museum' the Appendix is a disgrace to all concerned, 

 since, so far from advancing the knowledge of the subject, it in- 

 troduced so much confusion as to mislead many subsequent 

 writers." 



Having had access to the original notes of Mr. Bloxam, Mr. 

 Wilson is able to supplement the meager contents of the Appen- 

 dix with the statement that the bird collection contained "twenty- 

 five specimens of land birds — one of them bearing the M. S. name 

 of Turdus Woahensis." Thus we learn the interesting fact that 

 the Island of Oahu once possessed a form of the Hawaiian Thrush 

 (Phfpornis) long since extinct. 



The Blonde bird collection has shared the fate of so many of 

 the early collections, and no discoverable trace of it remains. 



In 183s th» American naturalist, Townsend, and the equally 



