62 THE CONDOR | Vol. IV 
picked up. The coloration is not materially different from California specimens. 
The wing measures 11.25 the tail 5.15 inches. 
Chlorodrepanis wilsoni (Rothschild). 
Himatione chloris Wilson. Proc Zool. Soc. 1889. p. 447 (portion). 
Hitnatione wilsoni Rothschild. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, i, p. xlii, (1883). Wil- 
son and Evans. Aves Hawaiensis. desc. and pi. July, 1896. 
Chloi'odrepanis wilsoni Wilson and Evans. Aves Hawaiensis. p. xxi (in- 
troduction). 
Rothschild, Bds. of Laysan. p. 137, pi. EIX, fig. 3. 
The bird of West Maui is undoubtedly separable from virensoi Hawaii. The 
coloration of wilsoni is much the lighter and the dimensions are different, the tail 
especially being longer and the tarsus shorter in wilsoni. The characterizations 
in Wilson and Evans’ work are far from sati.sfactory. The measurements being 
given in inches and tenths are scarcely of value in this day of fine discrimination 
among insular forms. Neither is the difference in size between male and female 
given, which is considerable in specimens examined by me. The following table 
of measurements is of two specimens (Virens') from near Hilo, Hawaii and four 
(wilsoni) from lao Valley, West Maui. 
>IE.\SUREMENTS OF Clilorodrepanis from iiaw.^vii and maui. 
Date 
Sex 
Wing 
Tail 
Ex. Ciilmen 
Tarsus 
C. virens. 
1-2-99 
5 
2.50 
1.50 
•58 
.88 
H 
12-24-99 
? 
2.42 
1.44 
..S2 
•85 
C. wilsoni. 
12-27-99 
(5 
2.55 
1.74 
.62 
.81 
4 < 
i t 
6 
2.61 
1-79 
.62 
.80 
it t ( 
12-21-99 
2.52 
1. 71 
.60 
.85 
it <t 
“ 
? 
2.45 
1.63 
■54 
.82 
The only land bird obtained peculiar to the Hawaiian Islands was this species. 
Near the head of lao valley it was found to be common, where nine specimens 
were secured. My field notes on it are here given: “Dec. 27, 1899. Numerous 
Himatione were seen to-day; at least many more than before. In one female the 
ovaries were active. One male with well developed testes has a plumage like the 
female. The stomach contained insect larvm. Their call-note is very like that 
of our Polioptila, the song being a sustained and rapid repetition of a single note, 
repeated five to seven times. Most of the birds were seen about thirty feet from 
the ground, where the color of their feathers made it a difficult matter to distin- 
guish them from the foliage. One male was shot in the lower branches of a tree 
twelve feet up and another lit in the lower part of a small guava bush only two 
feet from the ground.” They do not come below an elevation of about 900 feet. 
In a specimen taken Dec. 12 the testes were .34 in length. Iris, dark; feet, very 
dark, almost black; tip of bill and base of lower mandible, light brown; rest of bill, 
dark brown. 
Unprotected Breeding Grounds. 
BY VERNON BAILEY. 
T he large island lakes of the Great 
Basin country in eastern Califor- 
nia and Oregon, Nevada and west- 
ern Utah are the most extensive and 
important breeding grounds of inland 
water birds in the United States. A 
glance at any good map of the region 
will give some idea of the number and 
size of these lakes and their position in 
the bottoms of inclosed valleys. In 
most cases they are comparatively shal- 
low, with no outlet and more or less al- 
kaline or saline water; but the most im- 
portant feature, so far as bird life is con- 
