14 



The pterylosis presents the same features as in Hemignathus. The feathers of the 

 sides of the saddle are long and fluffy. The axillaries, or rather one row of the 

 marginal feathers near the shoulder, are elongated and somewhat fluffy. The tenth 

 primary is only - 5 centim. long, and is concealed by its slightly larger and stiffer covert. 

 The tip of the wing is formed by the eighth and seventh quills, the ninth equals the 

 sixth in length. The tail is very Fringilline in appearance, the middle pair of the 

 soft rectrices being the shortest, the outer pair the longest. 



The metatarsus is covered laterally by one scute and by four or five transverse 

 scales in its distal half; the front is protected by four or five scales, which are partly 

 fused with each other ; the median side is covered by one long scute, which forms a 

 prominent ridge behind. 



Alimentary canal. — The oesophagus formed no crop, but a distinctly marked long oval 

 dilatation, which was full of small soft insects. The stomach was small, oval, and 

 muscular, full of the remains of soft insects. The total length of the gut is 12 centim., 

 its relative length 4*3. The convolutions were torn by shot. 



Oeeomyza bairdi. (PL III. figs. 49-54.) 



Bill short, slightly curved, not serrated, pointed. Mandible slightly overlapped by, 

 and a little shorter than, the premaxilla. 



Nostrils resembling those of Himatione, Loxops, and Hemignathus. They are pro- 

 tected, but only partly closed, by an upper operculum, and at the posterior ventral 

 corner by a smaller, internal flap like that of Vestiaria described and figured. 



Tongue a little shorter than the bill, thin and horny, but at first sight apparently 

 different from that of the Drepanididse. However, the lateral horny margins are raised 

 up dorsally and frayed out. The distal fourth of the horny part of the tongue is 

 slightly split into a right and a left half, but far less than in Ccereha. This broader, 

 shorter, and less decidedly tubular tongue is in conformity with the slightly broader 

 bill. 



Pterylosis like that of Loxops, but the feathers on the central portion of the saddle 

 and on its continuation towards the oil-gland are a little more scanty and weaker. 

 The axillaries are elongated and fluffy. 



Metatarsus covered in front with five or six strongly marked scales, and laterally 

 with five or six scales which decrease in size towards the toes ; the median side is 

 covered with one scute near the ankle-joint, distally with three small scales. 



Alimentary canal. — -The oesophagus has, as in Loxops, an oval dilatation, which con- 

 tained the same sort of soft yellow caterpillar speckled with brown as seems to be the 

 food of so many Hawaiian birds. The stomach was oval and comparatively large, but 

 not strong, 1 centim. broad and 1*5 long, and contained caterpillars. The gut is long 

 for a bird which lives on soft larvae, namely 19 centim., with a relative length of 5. 

 The convolutions of the gut much resemble those of other Drepanididae. 



