Winston E. Banko

COOPERATIVE NATIONAL PARK RESOURCES STUDIES UNIT UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA Department of Botany Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 (808) 948-8218 Clifford W. Smith, Unit Director Associate Professor of Botany CPSU/UH Avian History Report 2 HISTORY OF ENDEMIC HAWAIIAN BIRDS SPECIMENS IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS Winston E. Banko UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Contract No. CX 8000 8 0012 Contribution Number CPSU/UH 026/5 ABSTRACT Delineation of historic ranges of depopulated endemic Hawaiian birds required information inscribed on labels of museum specimens. More than 40 institutions were solicited by mail from 1966 to 1956 for original collection data of 69 taxa. Data transcribed from 3820 specimens of extinct or endangered forms, and 1863 specimens of non-tnreatened species was reconstituted for purposes of documentation. Specimen accounts include currently recognized scientific, vernacular, and Hawaiian names of each species and subspecies; information on original descriptions; total number of examples extant and labels abstracted; date, locality, and name of collector; disposition of 7261 specimens (including 1638 of non-threatened taxa having unabstracted data) in each of 37 museums world-wide. Hawaiian place-names and elevations of principal collecting localities - are listed and shown on maps of the six major forested Hawaiian Islands. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................... LIST OF TABLES ....................... LISTUFFIGURES ...................... INTRODUCTION ........................ PRlNCIPAL REPOSITORIES ................... Family: PROCELLARIIDAE .................. Puffinus puffinus newelli ............... Pterodroma phaeopygia sandwichensis .......... Family: ANATIDAE ..................... Branta sandvicensis.................. Anas laysanensis ................... Anas wyvilliana .................... Family: ACCIPITRIDAE ................... Buteo solitarius ................... Family: RALLIDAE ..................... Porzanapalmeri.................... Porzana sandwichensis ................. Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis ........... Fulica americana alai................. Family: RECURVIROSTRIDAE ................. Himantopus mexicanus knudseni ............. Family: STRIGIDAE ...................... Asio flammeus sandwichensis .............. Family: CORVIDAE ..................... Corvus tropicus .................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Family: TURDIDAE ..................... Phaeornis obscurus myadestina ............. Phaeornis obscurus oahuensis ............. Phaeornis obscurus rutha ............... Phaeornis obscurus lanaiensis ............. Phaeornis obscurus obscurus .............. Phaeornis palmeri .................. Family: SYLVIIDAE ..................... Acrocephalus familiaris familiaris .......... Acrocephalus familiaris kingi ............. Family: MUSCICAPIDAE ................... Chasiempis sandwichensis sclateri ........... Chasiempis sandwichensis gayi ............. Chasiempis sandwichensis sandwichensis ........ Family: MELIPHAGIDAE ................... Moho braccatus .................... Moho apicalis ..................... Moho bishopi ..................... Moho nobilis ..................... Chaetopila angustipluma ................ Family: DKEPANILJIDAE ................... Loxops virens stejnegeri ............... Loxops virens chloris ................. Loxops virens wilsoni ................. Loxops virens virens ................. Loxops parvus ..................... Loxops sagittirostris................. Loxops maculata bairdi ................ Loxops maculatus maculatus .............. Loxops maculatus flammeus ............... Loxops maculatus montanus ............... Loxops maculata newtoni ................ Loxops maculatus mana ................. Loxops coccinea caeruleirostris ............ Loxops coccineus rufus ................ LOXOPS coccineus ochraceus .............. LOXOPS coccineus coccineus .............. Melamprosops phaeosoma ................ TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Family: DREPANIDIDAE (continued) Hemignathus procerus ................. Hemignathus obscurus ellisianus............ Hemignathus obscurus lanaiensis ............ Hemignathus obscurus obscurus ............. Hemignathus lucidus hanapepe ............. Hemignathus lucidus lucidus .............. Hemignathus lucidus affinus.............. Hemignathus wilsoni .................. Pseudonestor xanthophrys ................ Psittirostra psittacea ............... Kaua' i ...................... O'ahu ....................... Mol~ka'i..................... LZna' i ...................... Maui ....................... Hawai'i ...................... Psittirostra cantans cantans ............. Psittirostra cantans ultima .............. Psittirostra bailleui ................. Psittirostra palmeri ................. Psittirostra flaviceps ................ Psittirostra kona ................. Himatione sanguinea freethii ............. Himatione sanguinea sanguinea ............. Palmeria dolei .................... Ciridops anna .......... .......... Vestiaria cocci.nea ....... .......... Drepanis funerea Drepanis pacifica ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................... LITERATURE CITED ...................... APPENDIX I . Place names of principal localities on tags of bird specimens taken by collectors. 1877.1904. with map locations................... APPENDIX I1 . Full names of all bird collectors known to the author .............. Table 1. Museum repositories of endemic Hawaiian bird s~ecimens................ 5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Principal specimen collecting localities and elevations on the Island of Kaua'i. ........ 75 Principal specimen collecting localities and elevations on the Island of O'ahu ......... 76 Principal specimen collecting localities and elevations on the islands of Moloka'i and LZna'i. 77 Principal specimen collecting localities and elevations on the Island of Maui. ......... 78 Principal specimen collecting districts, localities, and elevations on the Island of Hawai'i ...................... 79 Collection of specimens is fundamental to serious investi- gation in the natural sciences. When properly labeled and pre- served, specimens offer the only physical evidence that a species occurred at a given time and place. Scientific inquiry into the historical status and distribution of the endemic Hawaiian avi- fauna therefore required that detailed information usually found on specimen labels be examined. While early-day naturalists did not always inscribe locality names on labels of specimens they collected, the aggregate information obtainable from their collections is nevertheless an important part of the historical record and must be considered in drawing definitive conclusions. It should be recognized at the outset that collection data presented herein are necessarily qualified. All sorts of defi- ciencies come to light under critical examination of specimen labels en masse. Most frequently, collectors either failed to inscribe complete date or locality of collection. Interpretation of differences in recording sequences of day-month-year wnich existed between European and American ornithologists also may have confounded the facts in a few cases. Hawaiian place-names were sometimes found to be misspelled, illegible, archaic, or unknown. In addition, some labels have been confusingly anno- tated, apparently by persons other than the collector. To all such sources of possible error or misinterpretation must be added the diverse efficiencies of curators and aides who periormed the tedious task of reading and copying information on hundreds of labels accurately and consistently. Possible error or misinterpretation of transcribed data by the present investigator must also be considered. Specimen label data were obtained in several stages. The initial transcriptions were accomplished by the author in 1965 and 1966 directly from labels of the substantial collection of rare and extinct Hawaiian birds in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Curators of some 25 other museum repositories known or suspected to contain Hawaiian bird specimens were asked to provide similar information during the period 1967 to 1970. A third survey of an expanded list of museums was conducted from 1575 to 1976. Relevant specimen label information from the less rare endemic hawaiian birds was requested during the third survey. In the last instance, however, some museums were not able to cope with the volume of work required because of lack of qualified help. This deficiency becomes apparent later in the data compiled for certain of the more common species. Hawaiian place names offered a particular challenge to pro- per interpretation. The author exercised the liberty of cor- recting apparent error in Hawaiian language spelling, including updating through use of glottal stops and macrons as given in Place Names -of Hawaii (Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini 1974). For localities not listed by Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini, anqlicized spelling of Hawaiian place names found- in A ~azetteer-of the errtor -of Hawaii (Coulter 1935) was use8. It was. alsosome- times necessary to interpret specimen label information subjectively; however, such license was seldom exercised. Published data from Eck (1968, 1970) and Walkley (i974, 1975, 1976) were incorporated; however, no special effort was made to track down and include information from very old specimens of Hawaiian birds in the obscure repositories mentioned by Stresemann (1950) and Burton (1969). Neither was an attempt made to reconcile information received from museum curators with that

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