AVIFAUNA OF LAYS AN, ETC. 



89 



10. HEMIGN ATHUS LANAIENSIS, Rot foe a. 



Hemignathus lanaiensis, llothsch. Bull. B. O. C. i. (1893) pp. xxiv & xxxiii; id. Ibis, 1893, pp. 256 & 265 

 (reprint). 



This species is intermediate in size between Hemignathus procerus from Kauai and II. ohscurus 

 from Hawaii, and can easily be distinguished from both. Its nearest ally seems to be 

 H. ellisianus from Oahu, but that species appears to be larger, with a shorter and stouter 

 beak, and has a very distinct superciliary stripe. 



The results of actual comparison will be given in the next Part of this book. 



Description of the Three Skins of Hemignathus lanaiensis, llothsch. 



1. J ad. (sexed H. G. Palmer). Above yellowish olive-green, somewhat mixed with greyish 



brown on the head where the brown bases show through. Quills dark broAvn, edged with 

 the colour of the back ; rectrices same. Below yellowish olive-green, much less bright 

 than on the back and with little yellow in it, shading into olive-buff on the vent, and 

 with a brown pale shade on the chin and throat ; under wing-coverts pale buff, with an 

 olive-yellow tint on the edges of the feathers ; feathers on the tibia buffy white. Palmer 

 gives the total length as about 7J inches, but it is only about 6 inches in the skin ; 

 wing 3-3, tail 2'1, tarsus 1*93, middle toe without claw 0*7, culmen along the ridge 21 

 (given as 3-1 by a slip of the pen in the original description, /. c), bill from base to tip 

 in a straight line 1*9 inch. 



2. .9 ad. (sexed H. C. P.; ovaries enlarged). Above more greenish olive and less bright; 



the superciliary stripe faint and greenish; chin, throat, and middle of abdomen huffish 

 yellow ; yellowish olive-green on the sides of the body and breast. In other respects 

 similar to the male in colour. "Wing 3*05 inches, tail 1*9, culmen 1*9, bill from base to 

 tip in a straight line 1*7. 



3. 6 (sexed H. C. P.). Above of a very peculiar dark saffron-olive or ochreous-olive colour, 



without green in it, less bright on the top of the head, where the deep brown bases of 

 the feathers show through; the superciliary stripe narrow and yellowish. Below the 

 same colour as above, but much lighter, and shading into buff on the middle of the 

 abdomen, and somewhat more brownish on the throat. "Winer 3*2 inches, tail 1*85 : 

 culmen along the ridge 21, from base to tip in a straight line 1*8. 

 Iris dark brown; upper mandible brownish black, with the base lighter and somewhat 

 greyish; lower mandible deep brown, shading into a paler and greyish colour at base ; 

 tarsi and feet bright slaty blue ; soles of a yellowish flesh-colour. 



