

OEEOMYZA BAIEDI. 



AKIKIKI. 



Oreomyza bairdi, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 99; id. op. cit. 1889, p. 385; S. B. 



Wilson, Ibis, 1890, p. 193. 

 Oreomyza wilsoni, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1889, p. 386. 



This species was first obtained by Mr. Knudsen in Kauai, to which island it is peculiar, 

 while an excellent description of it was given by Dr. Stejneger as above cited. It is 

 usually met with in small flocks of from eight to twelve, and is a particularly active 

 bird, continually running up and down the limbs and trunks of the high trees in search 

 of insects ; it is, in fact, the most energetic bird of the Hawaiian forests. Its short 

 tail, in Dr. Stejneger's opinion, indicates terrestrial habits, but I only observed it at 

 some considerable height from the ground, in the lofty ohia and koa trees, for the 

 dead branches of which it evinces a decided preference ; a flowering branch of the 

 narrow-leaved variety of the latter, taken from a dried specimen, is well depicted in 

 the Plate by Mr. Frohawk. The note is a simple twit, twit, twit, repeated constantly. 

 Its range seems to reach an elevation of 3000 feet. Occasionally examples of this 

 bird have the forehead white, and Dr. Stejneger upon them has founded a second 

 species which he has done me the honour of distinguishing by my name. I do not 

 think, however, that it is valid, as my examples were all obtained in one locality ; but 

 at the same time the variation in plumage does not seem to be due to sex. 



Dr. Stejneger, in establishing a new genus for this bird says : — " This genus may be 

 characterized as one of the nine-primaried Dicceidce (as defined by E. B. Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. Brit. Mus. x. p. 2) distinguished (1) by having the nasal fossse partly hidden by 

 antrorse feathers ; (2) by the absence of rictal bristles; (3) by the elongated, but other- 

 wise Loxops-Yike bill ; (4) by the shortness of the first (ninth) primary, which is but 

 slightly longer than the secondaries ; (5) by the shortness and stoutness of the feet, the 

 tarsus being not more than twice the hind toe without claw. 



" In some respects the present form seems to agree with Pinarolowias, Sharpe, especi- 

 ally in the profile of the bill. I can find no other structural character of consequence 

 assigned to the latter species than ' the culmen flattened in front of the nostrils ' 

 (Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. x. p. 3), a peculiarity not at all shared by Oreomyza. 



" The most noteworthy peculiarity of the present genus is expressed by the wing- 

 formula, which seems to be unique among the Hawaiian members of the Dicceidce, for 

 all the other forms which I have been able to examine, viz. Hemignathus, Vestiaria, 

 Himatione, Heterorhynchus (lucidus), Loxojps (coccinea), and Psittirostra, have the first 

 (ninth) primary never shorter than the fifth, while in Oreomyza it is shorter than the 



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