HAWAIIAN BIRLS. 19 



feet altitude, or a Uttle above, frosts are not unknown in summer 

 and are of common occatrence in winter. 



The prevailing forest trees are first the ohia; second the koa 

 (Acacia- koa), both trees being of prime importance in the do- 

 mestic economy of island bird life. Both furnish food, shelter 

 and nesting sites to the greater number of island passerine birds. 

 Both trees extend above and below this zone, but here they attain 

 their greatest size and development. It is the home of all the 

 Rutaceae and most of the Araliaceae. Here are the alani, the 

 olapa, the kawau and many other berry-bearing trees and shrubs. 

 In this belt the ferns flourish in wildest luxuriance, and the giant 

 tree ferns attain their greatest size and abundance. Here occur 

 on all sides the tree lobelias, those remarkable endemic plant 

 forms, of interest to the ornithologist as furnishing more or less 

 nectar to several species of birds. 



In addition to the birds enumerated as living in the next lower 

 belt and extending their range into the present one, several species; 

 are present in this zone that descend below only casually. Here 

 belongs, or did belong, the extinct raamo; and here today are- 

 found Moho, Hemignathus, Heferorhynchus, Oreomyza, Loxops,. 

 Chloridops, Pseudonestor, Palmeria, CiridopS) Loxioides, andl 

 Rhodacanthis. It is highly probable that it was in this belt that 

 C'hcBtoptila lived its allotted span of life, though our knowledge 

 of the former haunts of this extinct species is too scanty for def- 

 inite statement. ; "-.'. 



Upper Forest Zone. — The tipper forest zone of Hillebrand 

 extends from about 6,000 feet to 8,000 or 9,000 feet, and is char- 

 acterized, according to that author, by stunted mamani (Sophora 

 chrysophylla) , Cyatheoides, the naeo (Myoporum), and others. 

 Here luxuriate shrubby Compositae, Raillardiae, Dubautia, Cam- 

 pylotheca and Artemisia. Here grow wild strawberries and ohelos. 

 (Vaccinium) which also abound in the barren lava tracts of the 

 middle belt. 



The chief interest this belt has for the ornithologist arises from 

 the fact that it offers a home most of the year to the Hawaiian 

 goose, which also inhabits the lava flows of the middle zone, and 



