certainly appears to be the form found in Hawaii and not that of Oatm ; otherwise 

 the presumption would be that Bloxam's specimens were obtained in Oahu, in which 

 case most of the references to Nectarinia, Drepanis, or Himatione flava would be more 

 properly entered under E. clitoris. Two specimens in the Liverpool Museum were 

 obtained from Townsend through Audubon, and a third is in the Museum of the 

 Academy of Philadelphia, among the collections made by the United States Exploring 

 Expedition, though Peale does not mention it in his work ; while Mr. Sclater records 

 it in the < Proceedings of the Zoological Society ' for 1878, as brought home by the 

 naturalists of the ' Challenger ' Expedition. 



This little bird is peculiar to the Island of Hawaii, and ranges from the lowest 

 forest zone to 5000 feet or higher. Very unobtrusive in its movements, it may con- 

 stantly be seen among the undergrowth of the forest, diligently searching every limb 

 and slender branch and tapping the bark for its prey ; and at Mana, in Hawaii (3500 

 feet), I found it in great numbers in January on the mamane trees, which abound 

 in that district, and are at that season in full bloom. As far as I have observed, this 

 species lives almost entirely on insects and larvae, and finds its favourite hunting- 

 grounds on the aaka or Bastard Sandalwood (Myoporum santalinum), the koa {Acacia 

 koa), and the mamane {Sophora chrysophylla), though it also frequents the ohia. It 

 may occasionally feed on honey, but I never observed it to do so, and at any rate it 

 cannot be the case with it to such an extent as with its ally H. sanguinea. Moreover, 

 it hunts rather among the lower foliage of a tree than in the flowering branches. 

 The commonest note is a low " tweet," which is something like that of the European 

 Goldcrest ; but it has, besides this, a sweet though short song. The birds are 

 depicted on a branch of kauila (Alphitonia excelsa), of which I obtained specimens on 

 Hawaii, where it is now extremely scarce. In olden times the war-spears of the 

 islanders were made of the wood of this tree, which is extremely hard and of a very 

 handsome dark reddish colour. 



Mr. Perkins says (Ibis, 1893, pp. 105, 106) that this species is very partial to the 

 lehua flowers, and that he has seen the nest at different heights in various trees. It 

 is lined with roots, and has many fruit-capsules of the poka, dry and more or less 

 skeletonized, woven in the exterior. 



Description.— Adult male. Above yellowish orange, somewhat brighter on the rump, 

 the forehead and sides of the head being yellow with an inclination to orange ; lores black 

 and well defined; beneath, the entire surface of the body of a bright greenish yellow, 

 inclining to lemon-yellow on the abdomen ; wing and tail-quills blackish brown, edged 

 with olive-green ; under tail-coverts and wing-lining whitish ; irides dark hazel : bill 

 and feet black. 



Adult female. Much duller than the male, the abdomen being almost primrose- 

 yellow, while the greenish yellow of the upper parts in the male is replaced by ashy 

 olive. Apparently the forehead is not yellow. 



Dimensions —Total length 4-5 inches, wing from carpal joint 2-63, culmen -65, 

 tarsus -80, tail 1*85. 



