4 (Di.) 



AVIFAUNA OF LAYSAN, ETC. 



In the lower parts of the district of Kaawaloa collections were made until September 21st, 

 when the tent was pitched at about 5000 feet, not very far from the mountain-house in which 

 Mr. Scott Wilson had stayed for some time. 



On the following day already Mr. Palmer shot half-a-dozen specimens of Loxioides bailleui, 

 Oust., several of Meterorhynchus wilsoni, Rothsch., a Hemignathus obscurm (Gm,), and 

 a number of Chlorodrepanis virens (Gm.), although there was much rain and fog, which is 

 very often the case on these mountains. 



On September 28th the first specimen of the big " Finch " which I described under the 

 name of Mhodacanthis palmeri was shot. 



On October 5th Palmer writes :— " I have to-day been on the slopes of Mauna Loa and 

 succeeded in getting no less than five specimens of the big Pinch (Bhodacanthis palmeri), 

 besides several other birds. I searched for a place where, according to Mr. Greenwell, there 

 was an old grass-house, which I found all right, but no water close by, so rather useless 

 for camp. 



" Generally the weather is quite favourable in the morning, but every afternoon just 

 after dinner fog, and very often also rain, sets in, so making shooting in the afternoon very 

 bad and difficult." 



On October 14th Palmer went up Mount Sualalei, but did not shoot anything of 

 importance. He was favoured during most of the time he spent on this mountain with very 

 fine weather and went round the country in many directions. He must have gone up to 

 considerable altitudes, as he complained twice of the very thin air, which made walking very 

 trying. 



He broke up the camp on October 26th, and went down to a place about three or four 

 miles above Kaawaloa, where he occupied an old house, kindly lent him by Mrs. Greenwell. 



On the following days a number of Molio nohilis (Merrem) were collected, which were 

 now in much better plumage than before. 



On November Gth and 7th collecting was carried on near a place called Hanamalina, 

 belonging to a gentleman named Mr. II. Smith ; after this the camp was pitched on a place 

 called Ilolo-kalili. 



On November 16th Palmer went to " Honaunau," a dairy belonging to a Mr. Johnston, on 

 the slopes of Mauna Loa and, as Palmer thinks, about G000 feet above the sea and some 

 twenty miles to the south of Pulehua. 



" The country here looks different to that above Pulehua. The Koa-treesare very high 

 and in patches, most of their limbs and trunks are covered with moss. Between the Koas are 

 patches of Ohias and large openings. 



" Apapane (Simatione sanguined) and Iiwi (Vestiaria coccinea) are common, the Ohia 

 being in flower. Amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens, Gm.), as usual, are everywhere. 



" Leaving my camp next morning I went up a bullock-path for about a mile or so. All 

 the way nearly was through dense forest of Koa, very thick, with much undergrowth of high 

 fern, intermixed with wild raspberry-vines, which make it almost impenetrable." 



On November 20th Palmer writes :— "We had breakfast (Mr. Johnston with his men and I) 

 by sunrise, and at once left the camp and rode up the mountain. We must have been at 

 least 9000 feet high, for we saw Mount Hualalei on a level with us, if not below, when we tied 

 our horses up and proceeded on foot. The first two or three miles the country is very similar 



