PRINCIPAL LITERATURE. 



vii 



but the country is in such a state that it is not safe to go about by oneself, and it is not often that I can find persons 

 to accompany me. I am not allowed even from the ship a boy or sailor to accompany me to carry any thing for me, 

 . and in these hot countries I find it sufficient to carry only my gun, powder and shot. I have also other difficulties to 

 encounter which have precluded me making the best use of my time. The observations I have made on my return will 

 I hope be not uninteresting to you. I met with no swallows or any species of Caprimulgus at the Sandwich Islands ; 

 I was quite astonished at the paucity of birds there ; one species of bird from which the yellow feathers are procured 

 is so scarce that the whole time I was on the several islands I did not observe one and with great difficulty procured a 

 single tolerable specimen from one of the natives ; he asked a high price for it. These birds have only a few yellow 

 feathers under the wings which are paid as tribute to the chiefs, and they are so scarce that a dollar is frequently paid 

 by the natives themselves for a pair ; they are nearly exterminated. The red birds are more common tho' scarce. 

 I was obliged to trust to a native to procure these as in all my excursions I did not shoot more than three of them. 

 I was frequently out the whole day without killing any thing. I have however described accurately and minutely 

 everything respecting the Sea birds which I have procured, and all my notes will be at your service when I arrive 

 home. 



I remain, Dear Sir, with many thanks for your kind and interesting letter, 



Your obliged & faithful Servant, 



(signed) ANDREW BLOXAM. 



Extract from a Letter by Bloxam to W. Swainson, dated "Rugby, March 1826." 



" But a friend of mine on board ship intends sending me a few specimens which I hope you will accept of, though 

 without mentioning my name or from whom they come. They will be, I believe, three different species of the birds 

 belonging to the Sandwich Islands, and I have enumerated four in my journal which I have written for the Admiralty. 

 From their peculiar habits I have termed them the Nectarina class. It is from these birds that the feathers for 

 ornamenting the chiefs are procured, and one species, the Nectarina nigra" 1 , is so scarce that during the whole time 

 1 was in the islands I could only procure one specimen with the tail- and other feathers perfect, and this was procured 

 me by a native. This of course I sent to the Admiralty ; but there will be the head and legs of this bird, the former 

 with the tongue well preserved, which I hope to be enabled to send you. It was procured by a friend of mine, who did 

 not think the rest of the bird worth preserving as it was bare of feathers. I send you with this my papers where I 

 originally described the birds, aud from these I wrote out a fair copy for the Admiralty. I am uncertain yet what will 

 be done respecting it, and should therefore wish nothing to be published from my notes, as without doubt there are 

 many inaccuracies in it. I procured a tolerable collection of birds from the coast of Chili, but upon the whole have 



not succeeded in bringing home more than one hundred Of the Sandwich Islands I have described accurately 



the few birds which inhabit them at Woahoo. I was out with my gun day after day without scarcely seeing or killing one 



bird. I found them, however, more numerous in Owhyhee The islands are very barren in affording objects of 



natural history. I observed only one species of Papilio which I hope to send you. There are no beetles or Coleopterous 

 insects, and nothing remarkable in entomology. The owl is the only bird of prey. Jew sea birds are found on the 

 coast, but at the Galapagos I was very much struck at the vast quantity of different species of them." 



1831). Liciltenstein, II. Abh. kon. Akad. Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1838, p. 440, pi. v. 

 Genus Hemignathus established, H. lucidus described. 



1839. De Lafresnaye, in Magasin do Zoologie, deuxieme serie, premiere annee, Oiseaux, 

 pi. 10 and text. 

 Description of Heterorhynchus (nov. subgen.) olivaceus = H. lucidus. 



[See also ' Voyage autour du Monde sur la fregate 'La Venus/ Atlas de Zoologie/ Oiseaux, pi. i. 

 (1846), text, by Prevost and Des Murs, pp. 183-193 {Heterorhynchus lucidus).'] 



1 Drepanis pacifica or Molio nobilis. — W. II. 



