7? 



ACEULOCEECtfS BKACCATUS. 



0-0 A-A. 



"Yellow-tufted Bee-eater, var. B.," Latham, Gen. Synops. Suppl. 2, p. 149 (1802). 



" Certhia pacifica, Latham/-' Peale, U.S. Expl. Exped., Birds, p. 149 (1848) (nee Gmelin, Latham). 



Mohoa fasciculata $, Reichenbach, Handb. sp. Orn. p. 333 (1853), tab. 614. fig. 4099* (nee 



Lath.) . 

 „ braccata, Cassin, Proc. Acad. N. S. Philad. 1855, p. 440; id. U.S. Expl. Exped., Mamm. & 



Orn. p. 172 (1858); Sclater, Ibis, 1871, pp. 358, 360, 1879, p. 92; Von Pelzeln, Journ. f. 



Orn. 1872, p. 26. 

 Moho braccata, Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exped,, Mamm. & Orn. p. 172 (1858) ; G. R. Gray, Cat. B. 



Trop. Isl. p. 9 (1859) ; id. Hand-1. i. p. 114 (1869) ; Dole, Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H. 1869, p. 296 ; 



id. Hawaiian Alman. 1879, p. 46 ; Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 100. 

 Moho nobilis, Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ix. p. 284, partim (1884). 



* Figura notabilis. 



At least one example of this undoubtedly good species was received in England in 

 comparatively early days, but was regarded by Latham as a variety of A. nobilis ; and 

 that it should have been obtained even by Cook's people is only natural, since his ships 

 more than once visited Kauai (then known by the name of A-tooi), to which island it 

 is peculiar. But the real merit of its discovery is due to Cassin, who in 1855 first 

 defined it, as above, from a single specimen — marked as a male — previously brought by 

 Townsend to the Museum of the Academy of Philadelphia, where it had been ascribed 

 in error to Certhia pacifica. The same mistake was made by Peale, who writes that 

 " another bird is called Oo by the natives ; it is Certhia pacifica of Latham, and is 

 found on the island of Kauai, one of the same group. It also has tufts of yellow 

 feathers which have been collected for the same purpose in former days ; theirs are 

 on the thighs, not on the sides as in the genuine Oo; the feathers are smaller, 

 much inferior in beautiful texture, and are no longer collected ; both species are black. 

 We killed specimens at Hanalei, a department of the Island of Kauai, where they are 

 found in the woody districts on the mountains." The United States Exploring 

 Expedition, however, does not appear to have brought back any examples ; but Cassin 

 as we have seen, clearly perceived the error and, in pointing it out, properly described 

 the present bird as a distinct, but allied, member of the genus Mohoa, as he called it : he 

 moreover observed that Reichenbach figured it as the female of M. fasciculata [=A. 

 nobilis], whereas Judge Dole has since stated that the subject of that figure must have 

 been a male. The original of the drawing is at Dresden, but otherwise no specimens 

 are known to have reached Europe except those brought . by myself ; while I have 



