I 58. CYPSELUS apus. Cypselus apus, Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 142 (1870). 59. CHATURA CASSINI. Chatura cassini, Scl. P. Z. S. 1863, p. 205 (Gaboon). 60. CHETURA SABINEI. Chatura sabinei, Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p. 25 (1857). 61. MESOPICUS XANTHOLOPhus. Dendropicus africanus, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 312 (1876) (nec Gray). Mesopicus xantholophus, Hargitt, Ibis, 1883, pp. 173, 421 ; Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc. xvii. p. 430 (1884); Rchw. J. f. O. 1887, p. 302 (Leopoldville). Originally described from Gaboon, this species was also found on the Lower Congo by Lucan and Petit, and afterwards by Bohndorff in the Niam-Niam country. dently extends throughout the Congo region. 62. CAMPOTHERA PERMISTA. It evi Campothera maculosa, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 17 (1876) (nec Sw.). Campothera permista, Sharpe & Bouvier, t. c. p. 312; Hargitt, Ibis, 1883, p. 478; Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc. xvii. p. 431 (1884); Rchw. J. f. O. 1887, p. 302 (Leopoldville). Another Gaboon species which inhabits the Lower Congo and evidently extends throughout the entire Congo region to the Niam-Niam country. 63. COLIUS NIGRICOLLIS. Colius nigricollis, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 50 (1876); Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc. xvii, p. 434 (1884). Ad., Yambuya. 64. CHRYSOCOCCYX KLAASI. Cuculus klaasii, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 52 (1876); Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc. xvii. p. 433 (1884). Chrysococcyx klaasi, Rchw. J. f. O. 1887, p. 308 (Stanley Falls). Ad., Yambuya. 65. CHRYSOCOCCYX SMARAGDINEUS. Chrysococcyx smaragdineus, Rchw. J. f. O. 1887, p. 302 (Leopoldville), p. 308 (Kassongo). One young bird from Yambuya. 66. TRACHYPHONUS PURPUratus. Trachyphonus purpuratus, Marshall, Monogr. Capiton. p. 151, pl. lx. Ad., Yambuya. This is the Gaboon species, and not T. goffini of the Gold Coast. 67. BARBATULA SCOLOPACEA. Xylobucco scolopaceus, Marshall, Monogr. Capiton. p. 115, pl. xlvii. Lignobucco consobrinus, Rchw. J. f. O. 1887, p. 309. These two specimens show the greenish-yellow margins to the feathers of the upper surface, as described by Dr. Reichenow in his Kibondo examples; but the difference is so slight that young specimens of B. scolopacea from the Gold Coast are, I consider, indistinguishable. 68. CHALCOPelja afra. Peristera afra, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 52 (1876). Chalcopelia afra, Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p 323. Ad., Yambuya. 69. LOBIVANELLUS SUPERCILIOSUS. Lobivanellus superciliosus, Rchw.; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 201, pl. 9. ad., Aruwhimi River; juv., Yambuya. 70. ÆGIALITIS MINOR. Charadrius minor, Wolf & Meyer; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 130. ♂, Yambuya. A young bird. 71. TRINGA SUBARQUATA. Tringa subarquata, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 313 (1876); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 419. Aruwhimi River. A young bird in winter plumage. It has been found on the Lower Congo and probably follows the course of that river on its winter migration. 72. TRINGOIDES HYPOLEUCUs. Actitis hypoleuca, Sharpe & Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 18 (1876). Totanus hypoleucus, Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 371. ? ad., Yambuya. XVI.-On some of the Birds of the Sandwich Islands. (Plate VI.) Ir may be advantageous to preface these notes by a few geographical remarks as well as by a slight sketch of the leading physical features of the islands of the Hawaiian group, and especially of their forests, with which the existence of their feathered inhabitants is so closely bound up that the destruction of the one involves the extinction of the other. It is, alas! only too probable that both are doomed in a very near future, so that these notes will possess a melancholy interest for naturalists; but it will be quite needless for me to add another to the many descriptions already published of these lovely islands *. Anyone turning to Mr. Wallace's 'Island Life' (chap. xv.) will see that the Sandwich Islands form one of the most remote groups in the world, rising from ocean-depths which average about 3000 fathoms, whence Mr. Wallace infers that during the whole of their existence they have been as com * Of late they have been brought into prominent notice owing to the heroic devotion of Father Damien, the martyr of Molokai. pletely severed from the great continents as they are now. Indeed they lie some 2100 miles from the nearest point in the American continent (San Francisco), and they are at about the same distance from Samoa and the Marquesas on the south, and from the Aleutian Islands towards the north, though some widely scattered reefs and atolls, six or seven hundred miles off, serve to connect them with the other Pacific islands. The Hawaiian group stretches from south-east to northwest for about 350 miles; but though so extensive, it is entirely volcanic and its principal island possesses two active volcanoes, the lava-streams from which render a large part of its area a treeless and barren waste. There are eight inhabited islands-Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Kauai, and Niihau. Of these, Kahoolawe and Niihau, the two smallest, have no forests remaining. Hawaii is the most southerly and by far the largest of the group, having an area of 4100 square miles, and being well compared by Mr. Wallace to Devonshire, "with which it closely agrees both in size and shape, though its enormous volcanic mountains rise to nearly 14,000 feet high." Maui, Oahu, and Kauai, each about the size of Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire (again to use Mr. Wallace's comparison) come next in point of area, and these are followed by Molokai, Lanai, Niihau, and Kahoolawe in the order here named. On my first visit to the large island of Hawaii (coming from Honolulu) in May 1877, I landed at Kealeakakua Bay, on its west coast, the scene of Captain Cook's unfortunate death. Throughout the district of Kona, as this part of the island is named, the forest begins at an elevation of about 1100 feet, and stretches for some six miles up the slopes of the great mountain Mauna Loa (13,700 feet). For some considerable distance the more abrupt slopes of Mauna Hualalai (8275 feet) are also covered with dense forest. A great portion, however, of this island, especially the region from the sea-board to 1100 feet, is, as already stated, a desert waste of beds of clinkers and of lava-streams, which have rolled down to the sea from its three great volcanos― Mauna Kea (13,805 feet), Mauna Loa, and Mauna Hualalai -and accordingly the total extent of forest is comparatively small. Most parts of the interior are thickly wooded to an elevation of about 6000 feet, above which the ohia trees (Metrosideros polymorpha) become mere scrub, and other forest-trees disappear entirely. Certain districts, even of the interior, as, for instance, the vast grassy plains of Waimea, have been entirely denuded of wood, partly through the ravages of feral cattle, partly through fires and other causes quite independent of volcanic action, so that the forests occupy at the present time but an inconsiderable extent of this island. Moreover the existing wooded region is becoming smaller year by year, owing to the countless herds of cattle which roam through its depths and have already so thrown it open that the impenetrable jungle of primeval Hawaii is a thing of the past. It is to be feared that if no check is put to the depredations of these destructive animals, and if trees are not planted to replace the great tracts of mighty giants which, in certain districts, are dying by hundreds, the forests of Hawaii will, at no distant date, become a matter of history. I am glad to say that several large land-owners are becoming alive to this danger, notably my friend Mr. W. H. Purvis, who, being an excellent botanist and practical tree-planter, has been one of the first to recognize the extreme danger of allowing this disforestation to go on, and who, by fencing in his lands against cattle, will assuredly by this wise proceeding preserve some part of the forest, and with it its many interesting birds, for the study of naturalists. I feel sure that all intelligent residents will agree with me that these beautiful islands, well named "the Paradise of the Pacific," would lose much of their charm were their native birds, conspicuous for the brilliancy of their plumage, and remarkable from their peculiarities, to be replaced by the noisy Mynah, the pugnacious Sparrow, and the Singapore Dove, all of which introduced species have already obtained a firm footing on the island of Oahu, and now fill its wooded ravines, formerly the home of far rarer and more beautiful species. |