A FEW OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 



ON 



'THE BIRDS OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.' 



> «♦» <. 



THE IBIS. 



"We are much pleased to welcome the first part of Mr. Scott Wilson's promised volume on the avifauna of the 

 Hawaiian Islands, and trust he will be able, with the assistance of Mr. Evans, to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. 

 It will be very convenient to have the great advances which Mr. Wilson has undoubtedly made in our knowledge of 

 this most interesting subject incorporated with all that was previously known of it. 



" Mr. Frohawk's plates will give pleasure to all who study them." 



THE AUK. 



" The progress of Ornithology of late years is well exemplified by the work before us. Twenty years ago a small 

 octavo pamphlet held all we knew about the birds of one of the most interesting and peculiar zoogeograpkical 

 provinces ; while to-day it requires a handsome quarto volume with numerous coloured plates to fully represent our 

 knowledge of the subject. Twenty years ago the number of species known to inhabit the Hawaiian Islands was con- 

 sidered to be about forty by the best authority, Selater ('Ibis,' 1871, p. 361). To-day the number is scarcely less than 

 seventy ; and the most astonishing fact is that this increase of our knowledge of one of the most accessible and most 

 civilized archipelagoes in the Pacific Ocean has taken place during the last five years. To Mr. Scott B. Wilson, who 

 spent eighteen months on the islands in order to study their ornithology, much credit is due for this increase, and it is 

 with great pleasure that we extend our welcome to the work which he is now publishing ; and we wish especially to 

 call the attention of our American Ornithologists to it, as, from the situation of the Hawaiian Archipelago in relation to 

 our own continent, we ought to take more interest in its avifauna than has been done hitherto. 



" The work is uniform in appearance with most of the more ambitious ornithological monographs which have been 

 published in England of late years, and is issued in Eive Parts, two of which have already been published. These two 

 Parts treat of eighteen species, and are accompanied by twenty Plates, some of them representing species now extinct or 

 nearly so. The second Part contains a very valuable and interesting treatise by Dr. Hans Gadow, ' On the Structure 

 of certain Hawaiian Birds, with reference to their Systematic Position,' to the illustration of which three of the Plates 

 are devoted. _ Many unexpected conclusions are the* result of his investigation, and the ornithological public is under 

 great obligations to Mr. Scott B. Wilson for not having spared any expense in order to have this side of the ornithology 

 of the group as well taken care of as that devoted to the outside of the birds alone. For details and information we 

 refer the reader to the book itself, and we advise all who can afford it to subscribe for it. 



" The author has had heavy expenses in order to bring it out, and the. work is well worth encouragement. — L. S." 



THE FIELD. 



"The avi-fauna of the Sandwich Islands has been but imperfectly investigated by the various naturalists and 

 exploring expeditions that have visited those islands, and, consequently, our knowledge of it has been imperfect. The 

 ' Challenger,' in its historic voyage (which, however, was chiefly to explore the depths of the sea), stayed in Hawaiian 

 waters for some three weeks in 1875, but the collection of birds made by the officers included only one new species. 

 Some of the birds of these islands have been exterminated since the time of Capt. Cook, and others are likely to follow 

 in their course. Under these circumstances, Professor Newton induced Mr. S. B. Wilson to visit the islands, and to 

 investigate their ornithology thoroughly. Mr. Wilson remained in the islands for nearly two years, and brought back 

 a much more complete collection than had been previously made. According to Professor Newton, Mr. Wilson has 

 done a great deal more than anyone before him ; for he has not only brought back a considerable number of new species, 

 but, in addition, several specimens of birds that are now extinct. One of the most beautiful of the latter is the mamo, 

 whose rich yellow feathers were formerly used to decorate the state robes of the chiefs. Of this beautiful bird not 

 half-a-dozen skins exist in the whole world ; two are known at Vienna, and Mr. Wilson succeeded in obtaining two 

 other specimens from the collection of an ornithologist long resident in the islands. These are now the only ones 

 known in England. One Mr. Wilson has presented to the Museum at Cambridge, and the other is in the possession of 

 Mr. Walter Rothschild. In the Ethnological collection of the British Museum is a cape formed entirely of the plumage 

 of the mamo. Its dimensions are 3 feet 6 inches wide at the lower margin. Such a cape must have required the 

 plumage of some thousands of these birds. 



" The inevitable extinction of many birds from the destruction of the forests in the tropical islands is deeply to be 

 regretted, and ornithologists are greatly indebted to Mr. Wilson for publishing the results of his investigations in the 

 very beautiful monograph under notice. It contains representations, admirably drawn and coloured by Erohawk, of 

 the species described, several of which have already been exterminated. The text accompanying these plates is most 

 interesting, not only from an ornithological, but from an ethnological point of view. Two parts of the five of which 

 the volume is to consist have already been published, and the third, which will shortly appear, will contain an account 

 of the wingless bird of Hawaii, which has now also become extinct." 



DAILY PACIFIC COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. 

 (HONOLULU.) 



"The first two numbers of the 'Aves Hawaiienses ' have reached Honolulu. It will be remembered that 

 Mr. Scott B. Wilson, E.Z.S., came out here five years ago and spent a couple of years making a thorough investigation 

 into Hawaiian birds, and collecting specimens of all the varieties on the different islands. The results of his labours 

 are now taking shape in ' The Birds of the Sandwich [it should be Hawaiian] Islands,' a truly magnificent work, to be 

 completed in Eive Parts and published by P. H. Porter, 18 Princes Street, Cavendish Square, London. The two first 

 numbers contain eighteen very handsome full-page coloured plates representing ea^h species described, and the work, 

 when completed, will thus present a finished representation of each kind of bird known to these islands. Most persons 

 will be surprised to learn that there are so many handsome birds found here. 



" The ietteipress accompanying the plates gives, besides the scientific name and classification, a concise description 

 of the bird and its habits, and other matter of a popular kind, which will make the book intelligible and valuable to the 

 general public as well as to those whose interests are specifically scientific. This work, while possessing a general 

 scientific value, will naturally be of especial value to residents of this kingdom.'' 



