INTRODUCTION. 5 



the island species seem to desire to be on neighborly terms with 

 man, or to be capable of adapting themselves to the changes which 

 follow in his wake. For a time they are content to fly over his 

 clearings and to feed in the forest hard by ; but to nest by his door 

 and profit by his bounty seem to be foreign to their wild natures 

 and presently, unable to reconcile themselves to his unwarranted 

 intrusion into their ancient fastnesses, they retreat to the unvexed 

 and virgin forest. 



That certain Hawaiian birds are dying out there is only too 

 much reason to believe, but the necessity for the preservation of 

 large forest tracts for the retention and preservatioii of rain has 

 recently become so manifest that effective legislation in this direc- 

 tion .is sure to follow soon, v;ith the important secondary effort of 

 affording safe shelter for the birds. The preservation of -the for- 

 est in large tracts will in all probability insure the perpetuity of a 

 greater or less number of species of the latter ; so that opportunity 

 will be afforded for an acquaintance with and a study of the birds 

 for an indefinite number of years to come. 



