CHEYSOMITEIDOPS CiEETJLEIEOSTKIS. 



O-U HOLOWAI. 



Chrysomitridops caruleirostris, Scott Wilson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1889, p. 445. 



This interesting novelty 1 obtained in the district of Waimea, in Kauai, during 

 October 1888, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, and, as far as can be determined, 

 it is confined to that island. The Siskin-like song serves to distinguish it from Himatione 

 parva, with its low plaintive " tweet," in company with which it is generally found, 

 the two birds frequenting in common the lower branches of the ohia trees (Metrosideros 

 polymorpha). The first specimen which I shot, whilst flitting about a flower-covered 

 ohia at a considerable height from the ground, I took for II. parva ; and great was my 

 delight, on picking it up, to find I had secured a variety quite unknown to me. The 

 general colour of the two species is much alike, but the bright prussian blue of the 

 bill of Chrysomitridops is most striking in a freshly-killed example and has no other 

 counterpart in the Sandwich Islands. Mr. Francis Gay — whose knowledge of the 

 birds of the group is very considerable — had not previously met with it, nor, as far as 

 I am aware, had Mr. Knudsen, whose labours in regard to the Hawaiian Avifauna 

 are so well known to science ; so that it seems that I was fortunate to come across 

 it, with two such good observers already in the field. It cannot be common, as during 

 a stay of some days in the mountains I seldom saw it, and never in the lower forest- 

 zone. On my return to Makaweli, Mr. Gay showed my new bird to a large number of 

 natives in the employ of the Sinclair family, and but one, at the time, gave it a name — 

 O-u holowai ; subsequently another old native, who seemed to recognize it, applied 

 to it the same name ; O-u is the local name of Psittirostra psittacea, holo means 

 " to fetch " and wai " water " in the Hawaiian language. 



At first it seemed doubtful whether this generic form should be assigned to the 

 Finches or to the Honey-eaters ; the slightly-covered nostrils indicated the latter, but 

 the mucronate tips of the secondary quills appeared to point to a Fringilline affinity. 

 The first part of the name " O-u holowai " tends to show that the islanders recognize 

 a likeness to the O-u (Psittirostra psittacea), which is undoubtedly allied to the 

 Finches. I brought home specimens of Chrysomitridops in alcohol with the idea of 

 settling this point, but unfortunately the box containing them and several other species 

 was lost during my journey to England; however, I may mention here that since my 

 return a specimen of this species has been sent to me in alcohol, which, as will be seen 

 in another portion of this work, has enabled Dr. Gadow to determine its relations with 

 the Brepanididce. 



