AVIFAUNA OF LAYSAN, ETC. 



223 



48. MOHO APICALIS, Gould. 



Yellow-tufted Bee-eater (non Latham !), Dixon, Voy. round the World, plate p. 357 (1789). 

 Merops fasciculatus £, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 275 (1790) (recognizable description, ex Dixon). 

 Yellow-tufted Bee-eater var. A, Lath. Suppl. ii. p. 149 (1801). 



Moho apicalis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 381 j Dole, Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H. 1869, p. 297; Gray, Hand-1. i. 



p. 114 (1869) j Gadow, Cat. B. ix. p. 285 (1884). 

 Mohoa apicalis, Scl. Ibis, 1871, p. 369, 1879, p. 92 ; Pelz. J. f. Orn. 1872, p. 26. (Two specimens, H. Deppe 



coll., Enero, Oahu, 1837, in Vienna Museum.) 

 Acrulocercus apicalis, Wilson & Evans, Aves Hawaiienses, pt. v. text & plate (1894). 



Adult male. Black ; brownish and with distinct pale shaft-lines on the back and rump. 

 Rectrices with white tips for about 6 to 01 in., only the central pair without white 

 tips ; the central pair ending in a large narrow point, which is twisted upwards. A 

 broad line along the sides of the breast and flanks ; vent and under tail-coverts yellow. 

 Under Aving-coverts, with the exception of the outer ones near the bend of the wing, 

 white. Bill and feet blackish. Wing 4 65 inches, tail 6'2, culmen 18, tarsus 1*5. 



The adult female is similar to the male, but smaller. 



There have been some doubts and mistakes about the true home of this species. Gould 

 said that " Dixon's bird was obtained at Owhyhee," and he believed that his specimens came 

 from the same island, but these statements have but little value compared with the fact that 

 Herr Deppe procured several specimens at Enero, Oahu, in 1837. Except those in Berlin 

 and Vienna procured by Deppe, and the two in the British and one in my own Museum, I 

 do not know of any specimens of this bird in collections. These lines may perhaps remind 

 the curators of Museums to give information of the existence of any specimens, though I 

 have little hope that any more are preserved. 



Neither Palmer, Wilson, nor Perkins met with this bird, and if any of the Sandwich 

 Island birds are extinct, this one certainly is. Mr. Wilson is " of opinion that the bird still 

 exists," though there seems to be no special reason for it. This species of Moho is a large 

 and conspicuous bird with loud notes, and would certainly be less likely to be overlooked 

 than the inconspicuous Uemignathus and others. 



There are a number of O-o in the Museum of Kiel, brought home by Prof. Behn, who 

 collected much on Oahu, but Mr. Hartert has seen the specimens, and found them to be 

 M. nobilis and properly labelled as coming from the island of Hawaii. 



