om Dr. Stair's book, _Old Samoa_, his description of the bird. Very
happily, his work was sent to me some years ago, and I was delighted to
find in it an account of the _Manu Mea_ (red bird) and its habits. In
some respects he was misinformed, notably in that in which he was told
that the _Didunculus_ was peculiar to the Samoan Islands; for the bird
certainly is known in some of the Solomon Islands, and also in the
Admiralty Group--two thousand miles to the north-west of Samoa. Here,
however, is what Dr. Stair remarks:--

"One of the curiosities of Samoan natural history is _Le Manu Mea_,
or red bird of the natives, the tooth-billed pigeon (_Didunculus
Strigirostris_, Peale), and is peculiar to the Samoan Islands. This
remarkable bird, so long a puzzle to the scientific world, is only found
in Samoa, and even there it has become so scarce that it is rapidly
becoming extinct, as it falls an easy prey to the numerous wild cats
ranging the forests. It was first described and made known to the
scientific world by Sir William Jardine, in 1845, under the name of
_Gnathodon Strigirostris_, from a specimen purchased by Lady Hervey in
Edinburgh, amongst a number of Australian skins. Its appearance excited
great interest and curiosity, but its true habitat was unknown until
some time after, when it was announced by Mr. Strickland before the
British Association at York, that Mr. Titian Peale, of the United States
Exploring Expedition, had discovered a new bird allied to the dodo,
which he proposed to name _Didunculus Strigirostris_. From the specimen
in Sir William Jardine's possession the bird was figured by Mr. Gould in
his _Birds of Australia_, and its distinctive characteristics shown; but
nothing was known of its habitat. At that time the only specimens known
to exist out of Samoa were the two in the United States, taken there by
Commodore Wilkes, and the one in the collection of Sir William Jardine,
in Edinburgh. The history of this last bird is singular, and may be
alluded to here.

"To residents in Samoa the _Manu Mea_, or red bird, was well known by
repute, but as far as I know, no specimen had ever been obtained by any
resident on the islands until the year 1843, when two fine birds, male
and female, were brought to me by a native who had captured them on the
nest I was delighted with my prize, and kept them carefully, but could
get no information whatever as to what class they belonged. After a time
one was unfortunate