 The bird has a close ecological relationship with the "māmane" tree ("Sophora chrysophylla"), and became endangered due to destruction of the trees and accompanying dry forests.The first specimen of the palila was collected in 1876 at the Greenwell Ranch on the Big Island by Pierre Étienne Théodore Ballieu (1828–1885), who was French consul in Hawai‘i from 1869 to 1878.The type specimen (No.