INTRODUCTION, xiii 



capital of the islands ; and accordingly H.M.S. ' Blonde,' commanded by George Anson 

 seventh Lord Byron (first cousin and successor to the poet), was commissioned to 

 convey the dismal freight. The duty was performed, and the islands again were ceded 

 to the British Crown, but again declined. On board the ' Blonde ' sailed as chaplain 

 Mr. Rowland Bloxam, together Avith his brother Andrew, who was somewhat of 

 a naturalist ; and it Avas intended that the published account of her voyage should 

 contain a proper appendix on the natural history of the islands. An 'Appendix' 

 there indeed is, but one utterly unworthy of its reputed author, for the book was 

 edited by a lady x who had nothing but a few of his notes to guide her, and though 

 assisted, as it is stated, by ' the gentlemen 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 introduced so much confusion as to mislead 

 many subsequent writers." 



Professor Newton, as above stated, wrote in 1892 ; but since that date, thanks to 

 Mr. A. Boby Bloxam, of Christchurch, New Zealand, son of the naturalist on the 

 'Blonde,' the authors have been allowed access to his father's original notes, and 

 find from them that he obtained in the Islands 25 specimens of 9 species of Land- 

 birds — one of them bearing the MS. name l Turdus woahensis." This is just mentioned 

 in the ' Appendix ' to the ' Voyage ' (p. 250) as a variety of ' Turdus sandwichensis 7 

 (by which name Bloxam erroneously designated Phceornis obscura 2 ) found on Oahu, 

 where no species of the genus has been before or since known to exist, and it 

 has doubtless been long extinct. Bloxam's description of it is: — 'Length 1\ inch. 

 Upper parts olive-brown, extremities of the feathers much lighter color ; tail and 

 wings brown ; bill bristled at the base ' ; while the corresponding description of 

 the species from Hawaii, P. obscura, is : — ' Length 8 inches. Belly light ash ; 

 back, tail, and wings an ash-brown ; bill slender, f inch long, bristled at the base. A 

 beautiful songster.' 



All the specimens obtained by Mr. Andrew Bloxam, properly prepared and labelled, 

 were placed at the disposal of the Lords of the Admiralty, as shewn by a copy of the 

 letter he wrote to their Secretary, and probably all were sent, as some certainly were, 

 to the British Museum ; but no other trace of this unique specimen of a vanished 

 species, which may be properly called Phceornis oahensis, is now forthcoming. 



1 " Mrs. Maria Graham, as we learn from Dr. Smiles's ' Memoir and Correspondence of the late John 

 Murray ' (London : 1891), vol. i. pp. 319-321, and vol. ii. p. 293. She was the daughter of Rear-Admiral 

 Dundas, and married, first, Captain Graham, R.N., nephew of James Graham, who wrote the ' Birds of 

 Scotland,' and, secondly, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Augustus Callcott, Jt.A., and was the author of several 

 works." 



2 It is not possible to say with certainty what the ' Sandwich Thrush ' of Latham (Gen. Syn. ii. 

 p. 39), on which was founded the Turdus sandwichensis of Gmelin (Syst. Nat. i. p. 313), may have been; 

 but its length, ' 5± inches' according to Latham's description, and its white forehead preclude its being 

 Phceornis obscura, though Ellis's unpublished figure (no. 77), on which '■Turdus sandwichensis' is written, 

 can hardly represent anything else. It seems just possible that the bird described by Latham may have been 

 Oreomyza bairdi ; but the name Turdus sandwichensis has been purposely excluded from our synonymy. 



G 



