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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol 124. No. 4. December 2012 
in dry to very wet forest but not above 1.400 m 
and probably constituted a dominant aspect of the 
vegetation only in lowlands. Evidence of this 
comes from Holocene fossil pollen on Oahu, and 
pollen and seeds on Kauai, indicating that 
Pritchardia was one of the most prevalent plants 
in the diverse lowland floras of those islands 
(Athens et al. 1992. Athens 1997. Burney et al. 
2001). However, Ciridops did not necessarily 
occur in all places where Pritchardia grew, as at 
Maha ulepu on Kauai, and the birds may have 
preferred areas in which palms grew practically to 
the exclusion of other forest cover (Fig. 9). Nearly 
monocultural stands may have been patchily 
distributed resulting in patchy distribution of 
Ciiidops on Kauai and Molokai and perhaps 
contributing to our failure as yet to find Ciridops 
anywhere on Maui. 
EXTINCTION 
Destruction of lowland habitats (Olson and 
James 1982) by burning and clearing for agricul¬ 
ture and introduction of the seed predator Rati us 
exulans following Polynesian colonization, doubt¬ 
less gave rise to the obviously relictual distribu¬ 
tion and extinction or near extirpation of popula¬ 
tions of Pritchardia , and probably explains the 
disappearance of Ciridops everywhere but on 
Hawaii during the prehistoric period. After 
European colonization, the introduction of grazing 
and browsing ungulates, additional species of rats 
and mice as well as carnivores such dogs and cats, 
and alien species of birds with their diseases.’ 
accelerated the destruction of Hawaiian habitats 
and biota. 
By the late 1800s on Hawaii, Pritchardia palms 
seemed “to have been always of sparse or local 
distribution, and still exist singly or in scattered 
clumps in the dense forest above Hilo, where I have 
often observed them, as well as in the Kohala 
mountains and the Kona district” (Perkins 1903* 
405) - Hartlaub (1896a, b) included Ciridops anna 
among recently extinct or threatened species 
affirming Newton's (1892) statement that it was 
truly native, and remarking that the published 
leU a s * ran £ e impression (Hartlaub 
Rothschild (1900: 183) considered the species to 
be one of the rarest in the world,” but only 7 years 
ater listed it under the category “011110 extinct” 
(Rothschild 1907a: 200). Amadon (1944- p) 
■ emarked that “The speedy disappearance of this 
bud is puzzling. Possibly it was on the verge of 
EKi. 9. The isolated and protected islet of Huelo, off 
the nonhern coast of Molokai, showing one of the feu 
remaining nearly pure stands of toulu palm ( Pritchardia). 
fins stand has survived due to (he absence of seed predators, 
such as rodents and pigs, and protection from human 
disturbance such as tire and cultivation. Similar patchy 
monocultura! stands of Pritchardia may have been the 
preferred habitat of the species of Ciridops in lowlands of 
the Hawaiian Islands prior to ihe arrival of humans. 
Photograph of P. hlllebrattdii by Donald R. Hodel. 
copyright 2006. 
extinction when discovered.” Greenway (1958; 
regarded it as extinct prior to the 1950s. Possible 
sight and sound records mentioned from the island 
o! Hawaii about 1937 (Banko 1987: 240) are not 
credible. The extinction of Ciridops anna was 
considered to have preceded the extinctions caused 
when avian malaria in the Hawaiian Islands 
reached epizootic proportions after 1920 (van 
Rtper et al. 1986). 
From both Monro's (1892) and Palmer’s 
(Rothschild 1893) journals, it is evident that in 
C t' ldops anna was beyond extremely scarce, 
ibat the local hunters Palmer recruited in his 
quest lor this bird were highly motivated is 
indicated by Palmer’s account book (Bishop 
