

HEMIGNATHUS AFFINIS. 



Hemignathus affinis, Rothschild, Ibis, 1893, p. 112. 



Heterorhynchus affinis, Rothschild, Avif. Laysan, pp. 103, 104; Perkins, Ibis, 1895, p. 119. 



Mr. Perkins's observations, recorded on the spot, give an excellent idea of the pecu- 

 liarities of the genus as a whole. He says that since writing on the Hawaiian species 

 he had had the opportunity of observing the habits of the present species on Maui, 

 and H. hanapepe on Kauai : — " Both of them are found in the upper forest, though 

 stragglers may occur at times at lower elevations. Their habits seem to' me quite 

 identical ; and going straight from the haunts of the one to those of the other, 

 I failed to detect any difference in their songs. At the same time, besides the 

 ordinary song (which resembles that of H. wilsoni, the Hawaii species, but is less 

 loud), the Maui bird has a second distinct one, much like that of an introduced 

 Carpodacus, which abounds in the same locality and nests there. This is no doubt 

 imitated, as some of the native birds not infrequently sing like some other (native) 

 species, the song of which is quite unlike their own proper one. Their call-note is a 

 sharp ' keewit ' once or twice repeated and louder than that of other birds in which it 

 is very similar. This the sexes are repeatedly uttering, pausing in their feeding 

 at short intervals for this purpose. Their food consists mainly of various insects, 

 which they procure much in the same way as does E. wilsoni, but they are altogether 

 quieter and less vigorous in their movements. In their stomachs I usually found 

 spiders, wood-feeding larva? of Tinseidse and Geometridag, and wood-boring beetles, 

 especially the endemic brassy weevils of the genus Oodemas. Sometimes, too, they 

 contained small pieces of lava, no doubt to aid in breaking up the hard shells of the 

 beetles mentioned. That H. affinis also sucks honey I obtained decisive evidence, 

 though I never saw it myself ; probably all the species do so at times except H. wilsoni, 

 which has become more entirely specialized for a Woodpecker's mode of life. 



" In life, apart from their very distinct song and call-notes, these birds and the 

 Hemignathi can readily be distinguished from all the other native species by the 

 extremely short tail in proportion to their total length, — a distinction which the eye 

 can appreciate at distances at which neither the form of the beak nor the colour of 

 the plumage is any longer to be made out. Moreover the Heterorhynchi differ iu 

 another respect from all the other green birds, for the latter, even in feeding on the 

 limbs of trees, advance by more or less distinct hops, whereas the former regularly 

 creep over the surface of the trunks and branches." 



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