' 



LOXOPS EUFA, 



Fringilla rufa, Bloxam, Voy. 'Blonde/ p. 250 (1826); J. E. Gray, Zool. Miscell. p. 11 (1831). 

 Linaria ? coccinea, Gould, Voy. 'Sulphur/ p. 41, Birds, pi. 22 (1843) (see Fringilla coccinea, Gmel.) . 

 Drepanis rufa, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 96 (1847). 

 Loxops coccinea (pt.), G. R. Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Id. p. 28 (1859) ; id. Hand-1. B. i. p. 114 (1869) ; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. x. pp. 49, 50 (1885) ; Wilson, B. Sandw. Isl. pt. i. (1890). 

 Loxops wolstenholmei, Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 21 June, 1893, p. lvi. 



Following the example of the late Mr. G. R. Gray in 1859, of Dr. Sharpe in 1885, 

 and others, I was led in my account of Loxops coccinea to suppose that the Fringilla 

 rufa of Bloxam, the types of which (obtained during the visit of the ' Blonde ' to the 

 Sandwich Islands) still exist in the British Museum, was identical with the F. coccinea 

 of Gmelin. This belief was strengthened by the fact that a specimen of the same 

 species from Gould's collection (probably that figured in the ' Voyage of the Sulphur '), 

 and also in the same museum, had also been referred by him to F. coccinea. It is true 

 that these examples possessed little of the vivid colouring displayed by my own recently 

 obtained examples of the latter ; but this was attributed to the former having been for 

 so many years exposed to the effects of the London atmosphere, which seemed 

 sufficiently to account for their faded appearance, on which I duly remarked at the 

 time. Knowing, however, that most of Bloxam's specimens must have been procured 

 in Oahu, where I was not so fortunate as to meet with a Loxops, and finding that 

 Mr. Rothschild had described a species of that genus from that island, I was induced to 

 look again into the matter, and then it was evident that Bloxam's birds were perfectly 

 distinct from the Hawaiian L. coccinea, and must be recognized under the name of 

 L. rufa, of which Mr. Rothschild's L. wolstenholmei is a synonym, as he has since 

 admitted. 



Mr. Perkins, who was with Wolstenholme in Oahu when he shot an example for 

 Mr. Rothschild, has also examined the specimens in the British Museum and agrees to 

 their identity. 



As J. E. Gray and Gould had the opportunity of examining the bird when the 

 colours were comparatively fresh, I here subjoin their descriptions, in preference to 

 re-describing it in the present faded condition. 



The former says : — " Body red-foxy ; lores blackish ; wing and tail olive-brown ; 

 wing-coverts, quills, and tail red-edged, inner edge of quills and under wing-covert 

 white ; bill short, triangular, conic, tip straight, acute, whitish ; feet brown ; tarsus 



