may satisfy himself l . The last of the authorities cited by Mr. Gray is Cassia, and he 

 quotes Peale as saying that the species he speaks of was obtained in " Hawaii only," 

 and that according to his observations it did " not inhabit Oahu ; " it was accordingly 

 also H. obscurus ; and the mere fact of Mr. Gray's mistakingly referring Lichtenstein's 

 figure, and assigning Lichtenstein's locality, to the so-called " Drepanis (Hemignathus) 

 ellisiana " cannot remove the incontestable objection that his other references show it 

 to be but a synonym of H. obscurus. The error probably originated in his adopting 

 the view of Lesson that this last was the female of Vestiaria coccinea ; but even that 

 error was pardonable, as so little was known of the ornithology of the Hawaiian 

 Islands, and indeed when I arrived there I was, on the strength of the information 

 then existing, quite prepared to find that the brilliant scarlet bird had a green partner. 

 Although I believe that the bird still exists in diminished numbers on one of the 

 mountain-ranges which I was unable to explore — a belief strengthened by the accurate 

 description of it given to me by a native of Oahu in 1888, who said that he had seen it 

 during that year near Waialua, — I am bound to admit that my failure to meet with it 

 in the course of my explorations there, and the similar issue of the careful examination 

 of the heights by Mr. Perkins and Mr. Eotbschild's collectors, point to its possible 

 extinction. Though Deppe is said to have obtained several examples in the interior 

 of Oahu, where it was called " Jibi," the only specimen I have seen is that so kindly 

 placed at my disposal by the authorities of the Museum of Berlin, and the species 

 must be regarded as one of the rarest in the world. 



Description, condensed from Lichtenstein (ut supra, p. 450). — " Uniform olive-green 

 above and on the wing-feathers, though the inner and concealed parts of the latter are 

 dull brown. Beneath paler though as little brilliant. The chin, middle of the belly, 

 and the lower tail-coverts pale cream-colour. A pale yellow stripe over the eye is 

 enlivened by a dark brown streak running immediately beneath it from there to the 

 bill. The lower mandible is 3 lines shorter than the upper. The whole length of the 

 bird is 7 inches, of which the bill and tail measure each If; the tarsus 11 lines; the 

 middle toe with its claw 9 lines ; the outer toe one half and the inner a whole line 

 shorter than the middle toe." 



1 To any one acquainted with the movements of Cook's ships, on each of which Ellis in turn served, it 

 is obvious that he never had an opportunity of collecting specimens in Oahu, at which island they touched but 

 for one single day (27 February, 1779), when the captains only seem to have gone ashore. It is not very 

 likely that they would bring off a live bird of this species for Ellis to draw, and we have the inscription on the 

 sketch in his own writing : " W. W. Ellis delin. <$f pinxt. ad viv. 1779." 



