HEMIGNATHUS HANAPEPE, 



NUKUPUU. 



Hemignathus hanape-pe, S. B. Wilson, Ann. &Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, iv. p. 401 (1 Nov. 1889) ; id. 

 Ibis, 1890, p. 192, pi. vi. fig. 1. 



This interesting bird, which in colour and size much resembles H. olivaceus of Hawaii, 

 I described as new in my paper on " Three undescribed Species of the Genus Hemi- 

 gnathus" in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for November 1889, while I 

 subsequently figured it in ' The Ibis.' 



I discovered the Nukupuu whilst staying at a little mountain-cottage belonging to 

 the Sinclair family in the higher forest-region of Kauai, at an altitude of some 3000 

 feet, to which excellent collecting-ground Mr. Aubrey Eobinson most kindly accom- 

 panied me. Here I stayed with my native — Keawe — for ten days, and as the cottage is 

 some five hours' ride from any other habitation, and is completely surrounded by forest 

 on three sides — the fourth having a fine outlook to the sea, across a stupendous and 

 thickly-wooded ravine, which separates it from the next plateau — one could not well 

 imagine a better camping-ground. That this bird is very scarce is pretty clear, for my 

 friend Mr. Francis Gay, who for some years past has paid great attention to birds, 

 had never seen any specimens, and, furthermore, I only obtained five during a stay of 

 nine days. Mr. Palmer — the collector sent to the islands by the Hon. Walter Koth- 

 schild — only secured eight during a visit of some duration, and but two additional 

 examples in seven weeks' collecting in the wooded mountain-slopes above Makaweli 

 (2000 feet), the latter in different months. The fact of Mr. Palmer's procuring speci- 

 mens near Makaweli is of interest, as showing that the bird is not entirely confined to 

 the higher forest-zone. The first I shot, a fine male which was in a lofty ohia tree, I 

 took to be Himatione parva, the brilliant yellow of the breast in both species being 

 very noticeable, and I was therefore greatly delighted to find, on picking it up, that I 

 had secured a form quite new to me. Mr. Palmer says that he found difficulty in 

 distinguishing the females and young males of the Nukupuu from the Amakihi 

 (Himatione stejnegeri), as the two birds have so great a resemblance to each other. 

 For my own part — as I remarked in my paper in ' The Ibis ' for 1890 — I found that 

 the slaty colour of the upper surface of the former enabled me to determine them 

 easily enough, even when engaged in hunting for insects at a great height from the 

 ground. With regard to the exact manner in which the curiously formed bill is used, 

 I regret that neither Mr. Palmer nor I have been able to throw any light on the subject, 

 for the bird is so active in its movements, and the maxilla so slender, that it is most 



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