AVIFAUNA OF LAYS AN, ETC. 



85 



"This bird is much more common and enjoys a wider range than the Nukupuu 

 {Heterorhynchm kanapepe 3 Wils.), which bird it much resembles in habits. It seems to 

 inhabit the whole forest-region of Kauai; its food consists of insects, their eggs and larvae, 

 and we have also seen them sucking honey from the Lehua flowers. Above Makaweli in 

 January and February we found it less common than at other places we visited: there they 

 were mostly on the Xoa trees, these being the most suitable hunting-ground for them in this 

 locality. Usually there was a pair in the same vicinity, but not keeping very close together, 

 so that when one was shot we usually got another. 



" At Kaholuamano in the latter end of February and beginning of March they were 

 more common, generally, in company with the Akikiki (Oreomyza bairdi), feeding on the 

 Lehua trees, the pairs keeping more together. In one instance I shot a female, and the male 

 stopped in the top of the tree calling desperately. I fired at him without effect, and so 

 intent was he in looking for his mate that he immediately returned and was brought down 

 by another shot. At Halemanu, towards the end of March, we found them as plentiful as 

 at the latter place; but the Akikiki not being so common, the Akialoa {Hemignathus 

 procerus) were more often found apart from them ; here we first heard the Akialoa sing, 

 although it was some time before we knew for certain it was the bird whose sweet note we 

 heard every day ; once I heard one sing while flying from one tree to another. Near Hanalei 

 in April we found these birds not uncommon, generally in pairs, chasing each other about 

 or singing in the tops of the trees. Their chirp seemed different here ; Mr. Palmer likens 

 both the chirp and song to that of the canary. We watched a pair singing together one day ; 

 the smaller and duller bird (probably the female) [no doubt the female — W. B.] seemed to 

 have fewer notes than the other. 



" Females that I dissected here (in April) had the ovaries enlarged, which, with before- 

 mentioned notes on the subject, would denote the approach of the breeding-season. I have 

 seen these birds from the branches in the tops to the roots of the trees, probing into holes 

 and under the bark, where they find a harvest of cockroaches' eggs, beetles, and grubs ; on 

 one occasion I saw one alight on the ground and insert its long bill amongst mats of dead 

 leaves and bits of wood ; have also seen them collecting insects from the bases of the leaves 

 of the halapipi tree ; have not often seen them feeding on nectar. In feeding they do not 

 seem to depend much on sight ; have never noticed them to look into a crevice, as the O-o, 

 before inserting their bill. I saw one send its bill at full length into a hole in a tree ; have 

 seen them work about one spot for some minutes, but have not noticed them break off any 

 portions of bark or wood. Like the Nukupuu, it is an active bird, but can be easily 

 approached within gunshot with ordinary caution. They have a strong smell when killed; 

 and some, shot at Makaweli, had sores on their feet like the other birds in that locality at 

 that time." 



These swellings on the feet, which were so bad that in some cases the affected birds had 

 lost one or more claws and toes, were also observed in many other birds in Oahu and Hawaii 

 during the rainy season in wet places, and were probably caused by the damp. (See also 

 Perkins, Ibis, 1893, p. 112.) 



Palmer says this bird does not fly about in flocks, but keeps singly or in pairs ; it is 

 sometimes seen in company with Himatione stejnegeri, Wils., and Oreomyza bairdi, Stejn. 



N 2 



