4 HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



being carried on by our own Government and by the Bishop 

 Museum. 



The description of new species and general field investigations 

 are but the preliminary work which must precede publication in 

 the form of popular treatises, and it is to be hoped that such may 

 be issued on all the various departments of island biology as well, 

 as upon its ethnolgy and archaeology. 



Much as has been done in the past in island biology, vastly more 

 remains to be accomplished in the future, and the study of island 

 natural history will offer an attractive field for investigation and 

 for discovery for many years to come. The work is vast, the 

 laborers few, and it is to be hoped that the scientific interest and 

 value of this work may appeal to those who are island bom not 

 less than to students from abroad. 



The Hawaiian Islands, more remote from the continents than 

 any others, have developed fauna and flora peculiar to themselves, 

 and though the broad principles of biology apply here as well as 

 elsewhere, the specific facts are different and possess a significance 

 of their own which is yet to be fully interpreted. The forms that 

 have been developed here, not only of birds but of plants, insects 

 and mollusca, are very extraordinary and interesting, and the 

 manner of their evolution and the causes leading thereto offer an 

 inviting field of research hardly to be equalled elsewhere. 



Hitherto little or no interest has been manifested by Hawaiians 

 themselves in the subject of Hawaiian birds, and perhaps chiefly 

 because of such indifference the needed protective legislation has 

 not been enacted for the benefit of the latter. Even the inadequate 

 protection intended by present statutory law has not been secured 

 to them, since the laws have not been generally enforced and have 

 been practically disregarded. 



The remoteness of the forest which Hawaiian birds inhabit and 

 the extreme dislike of the latter for any innovating changes such 

 as attend civilization are doubtless chiefly responsible for the gen- 

 eral ignorance respecting the very existence of most of the native 

 birds, to say nothing of their songs and habits. Unlike many 

 European and American birds, which flourish in the garden and 

 orchard and find comfort and safety in man's protection, none of 



