(Plate [4a], Fig. 2.)
Entomiza angustipluma Peale, U.S. Expl. Exp., Birds p. 147 pl. XL fig. 2 (1848—Hawaii).
Mohoa angustipluma Cassin, Proc. Acad. Philad. 1855 p. 440.
Moho angustipluma Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exp., Mamm. & Orn. p. 148 pl. XI fig. 1 (1858—Hawaii).
Wilson & Evans, Aves. Hawai. pt. II and plate (1891—Hawaii).
Rothschild, Avif. Laysan, etc., p. 215 and plate (1900).
This remarkable bird, belonging to the family Meliphagidae, used to inhabit the island of Hawaii in the Sandwich Archipelago. It has been said by Mr. Dole to inhabit Molokai, but this is evidently an error. At present nobody on the island of Hawaii has any recollection of its presence, and its former native name is unknown—the name "Kiowea" erroneously quoted by Mr. Dole being that of Numenius tahitiensis. The bird is extinct, though we do not know the reason why it disappeared.
THE ONLY SPECIMENS WE KNOW OF ARE THE FOLLOWING:—
1. The type in the Museum at Washington, U.S.A.
2. One in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
3. One in the Museum of the University at Cambridge, obtained in exchange from Honolulu by Mr. Scott Wilson.
4. One in my Museum at Tring, obtained in exchange from the Honolulu Museum.
The type was obtained by Peale, the three others by the late Mr. Mills on the island of Hawaii.
STRIGICEPS LEUCOPOGON LESS.
Strigiceps leucopogon Lesson, Echo du Monde Savant 1840 (?); Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 266; Suppl. aux œuvres compl. de Buffon, Descr. de Mammif. & Ois, récemm. découverts, p. 277 (1847—Nouvelle Hollande); Hartlaub, Beitrag Gesch ausgest Vögel, in Abhandl. Naturw. Ver. Bremen, 2te Ausgabe, als M.S. gedr., p. 40 (1896).
Nobody has hitherto identified the curious bird described by Lesson, l.c., under the above name. From the generic characters he gives it is evident that it was a bird with a long, curved bill, lanceolate feathers on the head and throat, and long, strongly graduated tail, doubtless belonging to the Meliphagidae. The description of the colouration is as follows:—
"Back, wings and tail bright greenish-olive; quills brown inside; shafts of the rectrices canary-yellow from below, glossy brown-red from above; top of head and neck chestnut, each feather being narrow and streaked with white, then with fawn-colour on the top; the feathers of the throat are elongated and fringed out on their edges, very narrow and lanceolate, grey at base, white at the tips; cheeks, sides of neck and chest ferruginous, some white streaks on the feathers of the chest and in the middle of the throat; flanks and belly clear rufous, passing into canary-yellow on the under tail-coverts. Tail from below greenish-yellow; tarsi horn-colour, bill above brownish, below yellowish with brown tip. Length about eight french inches and a half (0.23 centimètres)." (Translated.)