62 THE CONDOR [ Vol. IV picked up. The coloration' is not materially different from California specimens. The wing measures 11.25 and the tail 5.15 inches. Chlorodrepanis wilsoni (Rothschild). 15rimatone c/2loris Wilson. Proc Zool. Soc. 1889. p. 447 (portion). trtrimatione wilsoni Rothschild. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. i, p. xlii, (1883). Wil- son and Evans. Aves Hawaiensis. desc. and pl. July, 1896. C/?lorodrepanis wilsoni Wilson and Evans. Aves Hawaiensis. p. xxi (in- troduction). ROTt-tSCH?r,D, Bds. of Laysan. p. 137, pl. LIX, fig. 3. The bird of West Maui is undoubtedly separable from virenof 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 satisfactory. The ?neasurements 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 follqwing table of measurements is of two specimens (virens) from near Hilo, Hawaii and four (wilsoni) from Iao Valley, West Maui. MEASUREMENTS OF Chlorodrepanis VaOM HAWAII AND MAIJI. Date Sex Wing Tail Ex. Culmen Tarsus C. virens. 1-2-99 <? 2.5 o 1.5o .58 .88 " " 12-24-99 ? 2.42 1.44 .52 .85 C. wilsoni. 12-27-99 <3 2.55 1.74 .62 .81 ...... ? 2,61 1.79 .62 .80 " " 12-21-99 (? 2.52 1.71 .60 .85 ...... ? 2.45 1.63 .54 .82 The only land bird obtained peculiar to the Hawaiian Islands was this species. Near the head of Iao 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 larvre. 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 bran.ches 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. 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 UnprOtected Breeding Grounds. BY VERNON ?AILE. 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-
