Читать книгу Birds of Hawaii - George C. Munro - Страница 11
ОглавлениеNative Hawaiian Birds
SEA BIRDS
Against the illimitable blue of the sky, over the unfathomable blue of the ocean the sea birds of the Pacific wing the cycle of their lives. For them the ocean is a larder: the islands and atolls their mating ground and nurseries. In the air on the wing what can compare with the wild majesty of the giant albatross riding the air currents with effortless ease, wide pinions spread as the bird glides and swoops against the sun. The plummeting dive of the gannets upon their fishy prey, the dipping sweep of the shearwaters close to the sparkling wave, the bat-like, fluttering of the tiny petrel, the vigorous flap flap of the booby returning to its nest, and the questing rise and fall of the white-tailed tropic bird against the cliff faces, all proclaim the species to the knowing eye.
First in the most recent classification of Hawaiian birds come members of the order of Petrels. The distinguishing features of this order are well defined viz. a strongly hooked bill covered with horny plates, and nostrils in tubes. The three front toes are fully webbed, hind toe small or absent.
There are ten species that range the ocean surrounding the Hawaiian group, and nest on islands of the Hawaiian Chain, on the large mountainous islands of the main group and small islands off their shores. Included in these species are birds of size as great as 33 inches long with a wing spread of over 7 feet and small birds not over 8 inches long. Two are albatrosses; three are shearwaters, less than half the size of the albatrosses; two are medium sized petrels; one, between the medium sized petrels and the storm petrels; and two storm petrels.
All these birds are undoubtedly surface feeders, the larger species flying all day and settling on the water at night to feed on squids and fishes that come to the surface at that time. Storm petrels generally pick up their food from the surface of the water as they skim the waves, some of them, using their feet to support them and seeming to walk on the water. The Hawaiian species can be seen to skim the surface and no doubt capture their food in the same way but cannot be studied closely as they do not follow ships as is the habit of some others. They only approach ships when attracted by their lights. The few I have examined had only a slimy substance and some little pieces of light pumice stone in their stomachs. It is generally supposed that most species of this order leave their young when full grown and very fat to finish their development alone, absorbing their fat and eventually following their parents to sea. It is more likely that the old birds return at long intervals and eventually conduct the young birds to the feeding grounds.
Some of these birds were found in countless numbers when man first came in contact with them. Their span of life must be very great as most of them lay but one egg a year and at times there is considerable mortality in the young. Many species will suffer unavoidable reduction in this war. When peace comes every effort should be made to encourage their recovery. Some of the species that nested on the larger islands are already on the verge of extinction through causes other than war. No effort should be spared to save these vanishing species.
White tern (Gygis alba rothschildi Hartert), from a photograph by Donald R. Dickey, Tanager Expedition, 1923.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
1. Black-footed Albatross
2. Laysan Albatross
3. I.aysan Albatross, Chick partly fledged
1. Pacific Golden Plover
2. Black-crowned Night Heron
3. Ruddy Turnstone
4. Sanderling
5. Australian Gallinule
ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES
| DIOMEDEIDAE | Albatross Family |
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS
| Diomedea nigripes Audubon | Plate 1, Fig. 1 |
Other names: Black Albatross; Brown Gooney; Gooney.
This bird, well-known on Midway and familiar to travelers from its habit of following vessels between the Northwest Mainland and Honolulu (it is the only sea bird in waters surrounding Hawaii to do so), is dark sooty brown above, lighter below; forehead generally dirty white, on some extending to the top of the head; the upper and lower tail-coverts of some are more or less white; the bill is dark brown; legs and feet black. Its length is about 33 inches with a wing spread of a little over 7 feet. There is little difference between the sexes or the immature and the old. Albinism has been noted and some observers think they have seen hybrids between this species and the Laysan albatross.
These birds come to breed on low sand islands of the Hawaiian Chain after ranging the North Pacific as far as. the Bering Sea. Individuals leg-banded on the Midway Islands, have been retaken off the coasts of Alaska, Oregon and Japan. They begin to arrive at the breeding grounds in the middle of October. They form colonies, generally on the strip of open sand above high water mark. They mate and build conical nests of sand amid a terrible din of various hoarse cries. One egg is laid on the mound of sand, Hadden states that it is the same as that of the Laysan albatross. They have a dance which is considered by observers to be faster and more graceful than that of the Laysan albatross which is famous and more widely known. The old birds leave before the middle of June and the young ones follow by the first of August, We took two male adults on July 18 which might.indicate that some old birds return to guide the young to their ocean range.
We of the Rothschild expedition had an exceptional opportunity to study this bird at sea, as individuals accompanied us most of the way to Midway and back to north of the 38th degree of Latitude about 400 miles from Honolulu. Our 45 ton schooner was low in the water and the birds came fearlessly up to the stern to tear lumps from the salt salmon or turtle flesh that the Captain kept hanging at the water's edge to attract sharks. We noted their remarkable power of flight in favorable wind, their preference for the water in calms, the querulous squeaking of the young birds when feeding, young birds trying to dive and old birds succeeding in going down several feet when the meat sank. Ashore we found only oil, cuttle fish bills and small stones in the stomachs of young birds. A fish about a foot long taken from the throat of an old bird, when offered to a large chick was eagerly swallowed.
LAYSAN ALBATROSS
| Diomedea immutabilis Rothschild | Plate 1, Figs. 2 & 3 |
Other names: White Albatross; White Gooney; Gooney.
This beautiful bird is almost pure white with a black patch in front of the eye; upper surface of wings blackish brown; tail black; bill gray; legs and feet fleshy pink Total length 32 inches. The sexes and young birds are similar in color. When nearly full fledged the young carry a tuff of down around the neck, giving them a peculiar appearance. The chick is covered with dark gray down. Two albinos on Lisiansky Island were striking birds. They were white with delicate pearl gray wings and tail. One was reported on Laysan as all pure white. It ranges the North Pacific to about 40 degrees of latitude. A young one banded on Midway was recaptured 300 miles off the coast of Japan. It breeds on most small islands of the Hawaiian Chain and sometimes on larger Niihau of the main group.
Large numbers were killed by plume hunters on Laysan and other islands in 1909. On Laysan numbers were killed by striking buildings and probably by being entrapped in a concrete cistern left by guano workers. When returning to a flat island where previously they had experienced no surface obstacles they come straight in ignoring any new obstructions. This trait makes buildings and trees fatal to them, and makes them in turn a distinct danger in the vicinity of airfields. Yet in 1911 after Laysan had been greatly devastated by plume hunters Professor Homer Dill estimated there were 180,000 on the island at that time. Mr. Fred Hadden estimated in 1940 that there were 20,000 on Sand Island of Midway. When we were there in 1891 there was not one bird of this species or the brown gooney on that island, while both species swarmed on other islands; all had been eaten by shipwrecked mariners. Many will be killed by the building of island landing fields in this war but if Laysan is properly protected the species will increase again.
Gliding and swinging on the wing it is a beautiful bird. Sitting on the water it rides high. On land standing straight on its feet with head erect, it has a regal carriage. The white of head,neck and breast shows prominently. The black mark in front of the eye, brown wings and black tail give contrasts. But when it 'walks it waddles with a swaying motion. To rise on the wing it walks against the wind with waving wings, then runs till it gets the wind under its wings, flaps a little on rising then sails off with wings outstretched and motionless.
Laysan albatross (Diomedia immutabilis). Typical nesting place on "Portulacca Flats" by the lagoon on Laysan Island. Raised rim of island in background.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
Laysan albatross. One black-footed albatross in middle. Lone Prichardia palm, probably the last tree of the ancient forest.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
Its food is principally squids and probably fish. It seldom follows ships. A young one came to our schooner with some of the brown species but did not stay long.
In the mating season the massed birds make a variety of noises. When engaged in their famous dance they clap their bills with lightning rapidity, whistle and groan loudly. The males fight and keep up an incessant screaming when so engaged. The dance is an entertaining spectacle.
They arrive to breed at islands of the Hawaiian Chain in November, about two weeks after the black-footed species. They mate and build their nests close together, gathering anything available that is within reach as they stand on the nest site. With the mud of the guano fields they build a substantial nest standing about a foot high with a hollow top. One egg is laid averaging 3½x3 inches and weighing about 8½ ounces. The sexes take turns incubating. Hadden says they change every 18 days, the sitting bird taking no food during that time. Dr. Alfred Bailey describes the returning birds as gently pushing its mate off the egg, greeting the egg and talking to it before settling down to cover it. Hadden says that about 63 days are taken in incubation. After the old birds have departed the young ones take advantage of every rise in the wind to exercise their wings by waving them in the air. Closely packed, hundreds of these birds waving their long wings at the same time is a marvelous sight. I once saw it on Lisiansky Island. The entire surface of the island seemed to be in motion.
The old birds are gone by the middle of July and the young follow in September.
ALBATROSS
Diomedea sp.
A single albatross, larger than the two common species, arrived on Sand Island of Midway in December 1938. It came again in 1939 earlier than in 1938. It died, but not before some photographs had been taken and it can possibly be identified from these. Unfortunately it was buried and no specimen taken of it. Hadden in "The Planters Record" described it "black down the back of the neck, white breast, yellow cheeks and an enormous pinkish yellow beak 1½ times as long as that of the white gooney... fully 10 feet in wingspread... a very deep croaky voice."
Straggling albatross to Midway Islands.
Walter Donaghho saw another on November 28, 1940. "... among black-footed and Laysan. species that was slightly larger than the two. It had a longer pink flesh colored bill with a black band around the base... the bird was splotched with black, brown, gray, grayish and white."
| PROCELLARIIDAE | Shearwater and Petrel Family |
WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATER
| Puffinus pacificus cuneatus Salvin | Plate 7, Fig. 2 |
Other names: Wedge-tailed Puffin; Moaning Bird (Midway).
Hawaiian names: Koto; Uau kani. (This latter name signifies the crying or noisy uau, and is probably much more correct than the spelling kane, commonly used in works on the Hawaiian birds.)
This is a white-breasted subspecies with Puffinus pacificus pacificus which nests in the Kermadec Islands and is there a brown bird. On the Revillagigedo Islands west of Mexico "both phases and all intergrades between them are found breeding together" (Oliver). On the islands off Oahu only about 5% of the number are brown-breasted, besides intermediates. There seem fewer of the brown-breasted phase in the Hawaiian Chain and more in a small group that were banded on Jarvis Island to the south.
It is 18 inches in length, brown above and white below with gray along the borders between the two colors; bill brown with slaty markings; legs and feet delicate white with dark markings on outside of tibia, very slight in some, grading to an almost entire delicate pearl gray of the whole leg and foot. The sexes differ little, the female being perhaps a little smaller than the male with thinner legs. The young in first 'plumage is not distinguishable from the adult. The newly hatched chick is a puffball of grayish down varying in shade from light to dark gray or light brown. A few adults show albinism slightly on the heads, one had the head almost all white.
Its ocean range is unknown, though probably not a great distance from the nesting islands. It nests in burrows on islands of the Hawaiian Chain, on islands off the main group and on Kauai near the sea and probably on Niihau. Undoubtedly it nested originally on all of the larger islands; not likely in the mountains as stated by some writers, but near the sea.
Ashore this bird does not stand on its feet but is always sitting on the ground. It advances by short runs. In rising it hops with both feet till above the surface. It flaps till clear then sails gracefully away. The birds arriving and departing at the breeding island fly round and round the site for a time before landing or taking off to sea. Their habit is to glide gracefully down the wind, wheel right around and sail back against it with almost imperceptible movement of their wings. At sea it goes in scattered flocks flying tirelessly when the wind is fresh. Its flight is steadier than that of the uau (Pterodroma). Graceful and innocent looking as the pairs seem while sitting at the entrance to their burrows, they can use bill and claws to good effect if molested, biting and scratching viciously.
Banding has established the facts that they invariably return to the same nesting island, that some of the pairs stay together for several years, that groups keep together and return together to the same part of their island nesting place. Of the thousands banded on islands off the coast of Oahu none has so far been reported as recaptured at a distance.
Its cry is a series of moans, groans, snores and wails, with an intensely weird effect when a large number of birds are performing.
Its food seems to be principally a long bodied squid or cuttlefish, and small fish of various kinds.
The birds arrive at the nesting islands in April, mate and prepare their burrows. They leave at the end of May to return in the middle of June to lay. One egg is laid, a delicate white, elongate-ovoid measuring 2.5x1.5 inches. The majority of the birds lay within the space of a few days. The time of laying on Laysan in 1891 coincided with the laying off the Oahu coast in 1937-41. During the mating, hatching and nurturing of the young large numbers come in to the breeding islands from the sea from early dusk till midnight. Numbers leave at daybreak; whether they are the same birds that come in during the night is not known. But it would seem as if different groups come in on different nights; as evidenced by the numbers on the banded birds. Towards the end of October the young are getting fledged and come out of their burrows. Banding has shown that some of the old birds return about that time, no doubt to guide the young to their winter range. The young leave the islands about November or December.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND SHEARWATER
| Puffinus nativitatus Streets | Plate 7, Fig. 4 |
Other names: Black Shearwater; Christmas Shearwater.
This shearwater is sooty black above, darker on head, wings and tail; sooty brown on under parts, tail wedge-shaped; iris dark brown; bill black; legs and feet dark brown, inside webs and toes slate. Length 14 inches. The newly hatched chick is covered with black down which it carries till well grown. Sexes do not differ and the immature is like the adult.
It has a wide range in the tropical Pacific. It breeds on islands of the Hawaiian Chain but was not reported from the main islands till 1937 when I collected a specimen on Moku Manu, off Oahu. A few have been found breeding there in succeeding years. Its one white egg is laid on the bare sand sheltered by grass or other vegetation. It averages 2.3x1.4 inches. The young were beginning to hatch on Laysan in the middle of June 1891. Large numbers came to the island in the evenings and filled the air with their groans. The breeding season seems to be long as I have seen young ready to fly as early as August on Moku Manu and in a succeeding year a well grown chick still in the down in October. One nearly fledged was on Moku Manu on August 18, 1943.
Noddy tern (Anous stolidus pileatus Scopoli) on Rabbit Island, Oahu.
Photo by William V. Ward.
NEWELL'S SHEARWATER
Puffinus newelli Henshaw
Other name: Newett's Puffin. Hawaiian name: Ao.
The ao is the only sea bird endemic to Hawaii not classed as a subspecies. It may possibly have close affinities elsewhere. Alexander in "Birds of the Ocean" suggests that it may be a form of Townsend's shearwater that inhabits the ocean off the coast of Mexico.
Above it is glossy black, underneath pure white except borders of under wing-coverts which are black. The white extends well up on the sides of the neck and on the flanks. This feature makes for easy identification in flight side on, visible as a white spot at neck and in front of tail. My notes on August 14, 1891 say: "After sighting Kauai, a petrel that we had not secured was to be seen yesterday. We had noticed them some days before... It differs from the uau in being stouter and shorter in proportion, a little larger, darker on the back and with no white on forehead."
Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands but in danger of extinction, it was formerly a common bird, nesting on Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Kauai and probably on other smaller islands also. There were 4 specimens in the Gay and Robinson collection in 1891. Mr. F. Gay said the ao laid its eggs in May and June in holes in the earth near the sea. Mr. Deverill of Hanalei, Kauai was informed by old natives that it was a black and white petrel the size of a mudhen. It was not described till 1900 when Henshaw procured a specimen from Brother Matthias Newell to whom it was given by natives who took it, with others, from burrows in the Waihee Valley, Maui. Henshaw described it and named it after Mr. Newell.
Alanson Bryan was told of it and heard its call in Pelekunu Valley, Molokai in 1907. It used to nest in the Waipio Valley, Hawaii, and the natives used it for food. Mr. W. H. Meinecke told me of a straggler that used to come to a cliff (Puuao on recent maps), near the town of Waiohinu, Hawaii, where it flew up and down uttering its eerie cry "ao". It came only at long intervals and was thought an omen of death by the natives. Mr. Meinecke said old natives told him the original name of the locality was Pu-a-ao "a flock of aos," so it is evident that the site was an original nesting place of the ao. Several instances have come under my notice of straggling sea birds returning.to long deserted nesting places.
Little is known of the habits of this species except that it nested in burrows at the foot of cliffs near the sea at from 500 to 1,000 feet elevation. It has most likely been killed out by the mongoose on Hawaii, Maui and Molokai. But it may still nest in remote valleys on the north side of Kauai and perhaps on Niihau. By some it is thought to be extinct and if so there are only about 7 specimens in existence. It will be most unfortunate if this, our only endemic species of sea bird, has entirely disappeared.
DARK-RUMPED PETREL
| Pterodroma phaeopygia sandwichensis (Ridgway) | Plate 7, Fig. 1 |
Hawaiian names: Uau; Uuau; Uwau.
This is a subspecies with P. P. phaeopygia of the Galapagos Islands. It appears to be a white-headed bird at a distance. Its forehead, cheeks and underparts are white; head black; back brownish slate, wings and tail darker; length 15.5 inches.
Endemic to the main group of the Hawaiian Islands and in danger of extinction, the uau probably did not range far from the main islands. It nested in the mountains of Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and Lanai. The mongoose has killed it out on Hawaii, Maui and Molokai. Pigs and cats accounted for it on Lanai. No doubt the ancient Hawaiians exterminated it on Oahu. The name of a hill Puu Uau, on Oahu, is evidence that it nested there. There are no mongooses on Kauai so it may still nest there in the mountains.
In flight it is more erratic than the wedge-tailed shearwater. It darts and zigzags, sailing between times. Coming in to the islands from the sea it flies fairly high. No observations have been recorded of its feeding habits. Its cry when flying round the cliffs en Molokai is described by Alanson Bryan as weird: "A long drawn out u-a-u, suggesting the wail of a lonesome cat," and other variations.
It nests in holes under the roots of trees and stones at elevations of from 1,500 to 5,000 feet. The egg is laid in April and May and the natives took the young when nearly full grown but still in the down, in October. The natives used the old birds as well as the young for food, netting them as they flew to the mountains in the evening. The young birds were considered a delicacy, kapu to the common people and reserved for the chiefs. The old birds were probably not kapu as their flavor was so strong that they could not be eaten till they had been salted for a considerable time. Taking the old birds from the burrows as described by Alanson Bryan was no doubt resorted to after the kapu was removed. This practice probably helped to exterminate the species on Molokai. Alanson Bryan mentions a glossy white egg.
Bonin Island petrel (Pterodroma leucoptera hypoleuca) at entrance to burrow. Showing grass formerly covering large areas of the island.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
BONIN ISLAND PETREL
| Pterodroma leucoptera hypoleuca (Salvin) | Plate 7, Fig. 5 |
Other names: Salvin's Petrel; Bonin Petrel; Small Moaning Bird (Midway).
This interesting petrel is about 13 inches long; forehead is white and slate color, upper parts slaty to black; below white; bill black; legs flesh color; feet black. The immature bird does not differ from the adult.
It ranges the North Pacific Ocean and breeds on islands of the Hawaiian Chain. A remnant of one (head and wing, enough to identify the species) was found on Lanai in 1914. It may have been a straggler, or perhaps an old bird visiting what may have been a former nesting place on dry ridges of the forest in the vicinity. This is the only record of the species on the main Hawaiian group. The specimen is in the Bishop Museum. Caum saw a chick which he believed to be of this species on Kaula in 1932.
When we arrived oa Laysan in the middle of June 1891, the young of this species had nearly all left; the Christmas shearwater was hatching its chicks and the wedge-tailed shearwater was laying its eggs. A few young Bonins were in burrows and seemed blind when brought out into the light of day. We found young birds, some alive and some dead, on Lisiansky and Midway.
Descriptions of the arrival of these birds in immense numbers on Laysan and Midway in August are given by Schauinsland, Hadden and Donaghho. Their beautiful flight, aerial evolutions in the evenings, their terrible growling, squalling and squealing when preparing to lay are extremely interesting.
Nature's wonderful plans are astonishing. We can only guess at the course of controlled competition among the different species; how the Christmas shearwater nests on the ground; the Bonins in burrows and the wedge-tails at a deeper level. Also the conservation of food supply insured by the Bonins leaving, as the wedge-tails arrive, and the Christmas shear-water feeding its young at a time different from the other two.
BULWER'S PETREL
Bulweria bulweri (Jardin & Selby)
Hawaiian names: Ou; Owow.
This gentle little petrel is about 11 inches long. It is sooty brownish black with a paler band along the wings; bill black and feet brown. There is no perceptible difference between the old and young birds in first plumage. The chick in the down is black.
The species has a wide range over the seas of the world. It nests on a number of islands off the coast of Oahu and on islands of the Hawaiian Chain. In 1912 Dill estimated that there were 1,000 on Laysan. Where rats abound it is soon exterminated.
It has the graceful flight of the petrels, generally keeping close to the water. Ashore it does not stand on its feet but takes short waddling runs and assumes a sitting posture. Surface sea-life is evidently its food. All I have examined had empty stomachs. Its voice is a deep croak, some would liken it to a small dog barking. A sound, kept up for long periods like the motor of a small boat, heard on islands it inhabits cannot be attributed to any other bird.
The birds begin to lay early in June on the ground under vegetation or other shelter they can find. On French Frigate Shoal they were under turtle shells. The pure white egg is ovoid, blunt at small end, averaging
1.6x1.25 inches. I have seen young chicks about the second week of August and young nearly full fledged early in September. The chicks were considered a great delicacy by the ancient Hawaiians.
| HYDROBATIDAE | Storm Petrel Family |
HAWAIIAN STORM PETREL
| Oceanodroma castro cryptoleucura (Ridgway) | Plate 7, Fig. 3 |
Hawaiian names: Oeoe; Otveowe; Akeake.
This subspecies with Oceanodroma castro castro of St. Helena is only about 8 inches long. It is of a general sooty brown color, with the upper tail-coverts white. It is easily distinguished at sea in Hawaiian waters by its small size and the white patch at the base of the tail. We saw one on our outward passage on May 29,1891 the day after we passed Necker Island. We saw another flying around on June 10 the day before we sighted Gardner Island. Quoting my notes of August 14, 1891 on our return voyage we sighted the north side of Kauai when the white-rumped storm petrel were very numerous. Palmer also sighted it in the channel between Kauai and Niihau in July 1893. I have never seen this bird to the south of the group. My observations give me the impression that its range is to the north of- the main islands. I believe Henshaw's mention of the akeake refers to Tristram's petrel as I have some evidence that it ranges to the south of the main group. It is hoped that at some time a careful investigation will be made of the range and habits of the Hawaiian sea birds, which will throw more light on subjects such as this.
There is no record of this bird's feeding habits and the only information of its breeding habits was obtained from Francis Gay who informed us that the specimens in the Gay and Robinson collection were found at the foot of inland cliffs where the young birds had fallen when trying to fly. Once at night I heard the squeaking of a bird flying around an island cliff in the Hanapepe Valley, Kauai that I felt sure was this bird, but it was too dark to see it. I know of no record of the nest or egg having been seen. Palmer was given two specimens from the Gay and Robinson collection where two still remain. The only specimen in my collection was found on the beach at Makaweli, Kauai It was a young bird with the down still clinging to its feathers.
TRISTRAM'S PETREL
Oceanodroma markhami tristrami Salvin
Other names: Sooty Petrel; Sooty Storm Petrel.
Above mostly dark sooty slate, rump lighter, wing quills sooty black, light grayish brown band along wing; under parts sooty grayish brown; tail forked; iris dark brown; bill black; legs gray, outer toe with webs brownish black. Length 11 inches.
It ranges from Japan to Hawaii and perhaps other parts of the North Pacific. Schauinsland found a few on Laysan. Specimens from Lanai, a skin, wings and bones not yet identified, are probably of this species. During the "Whippoorwill" expedition on September 19, 1924, when about 9 degrees north latitude, 169 degrees west longitude, a female of this species came aboard. Several others were seen, one the next day, which showed plainly the light colored band along the wings. An investigation of the cliffs of Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe and Hawaii and the small islets off their shores might reveal some facts about this and other sea birds.
ORDER PELECANI FORMES
The members of this order are distinguished from all other birds by all their four toes being connected by a web. Some have straight strong bills and others have bills hooked at the tip.
| PHAETHONTIDAE | Tropic Bird Family |
RED-TAILED TROPIC BIRD
| Phaethon rubricauda rothschildi (Mathews) | Plate 7, Fig. 6 |
Other name: Bos'n Bird. Hawaiian names: Koae; Koae-ula; Ula (Niihau).
This beautiful bird is almost pure white with a few small black markings. Some have a pretty rosy blush running through the feathers. The bill is strong, red in color; legs bluish gray, webs black; length 31 inches with the long red central tail feathers, which extend 14 inches beyond the others. Immature birds are barred with black on the upper parts. The downy chicks vary in color; some are white, others light brown with varying shades between.
This tropic bird breeds on islands of the Hawaiian Chain, Bonin Island and most likely it is this subspecies that is so common on the Phoenix and Equatorial Islands. Its migrations are not yet well known. It breeds on Niihau of the main group and very likely in remote shore cliffs of other islands especially Lanai.
It has a strong flapping flight which it can keep up for long periods without rest as it seldom alights on the water and can often be seen hundreds of miles from land. It cannot stand upright, but has no difficulty in taking flight from a flat surface, beating its way vigorously with its wings. In alighting it strikes the ground with a thud, the thick breast feathers and air cushion under the skin no doubt breaking the force of the impact Fishing, it dives from a height in the air striking the water with some force. It was found when banding these birds that if tossed into the air they were unable to take flight and fell to the ground with a heavy impact. This necessitates placing them on the ground after banding. An aerial mating dance performed by a large number of pairs at a time is very spectacular.
Its food is fish. It likes the long garfish which it has to fold in order to swallow.
When approaching the nest one is greeted by a harsh squawk which is kept up as long as the bird is held, making banding work unpleasant. A more shrill cry is kept up when in the air and on some islands is heard constantly overhead all day.
On low sand islands it lays its one egg on the surface in shelter of a rock or vegetation. On larger islands it lays in nooks in the face of cliffs. The egg is very thickly covered with reddish brown spots on a grayish ground. The spots are so thickly spread as to almost cover the gray ground; ovoid, 2.5x2 inches. It has a long breeding season from May till late in the year.
WHITE-TAILED TROPIC BIRD
Phaethon lepturus dorotheae Mathews
Other names: White-tailed Bos'n. Hawaiian name: Koae.
This tropic bird is a subspecies with P. I. lepturus of the Galapagos Islands. It is distinguished on the wing by its white body, a black band along the outer edge of wing, long white central tail feathers and greenish yellow bill. Its length is about 25 inches. The immature bird has black markings on upper parts and central tail feathers short The chick is covered with gray down. Henshaw mentions a "distinct rosy tinge" and "deep salmon color" in parts of the plumage. Specimens I handled on Kauai and Lanai did not show this to a sufficient extent to be noted. It may have been more pronounced on Hawaii
This bird has a wide range as far as the Tuamotus and New Caledonia. It has been seen at Midway and 100 miles or more to the north of that island. One was seen 400 miles from land on the return voyage from Midway August 8, 1891. it nests on the large islands of' the Hawaiian group but is rare on Niihau. On these islands it is most often seen flying up and down the faces of shoreline and inland cliffs with a flapping flight, uttering sharp rasping calls at frequent intervals. This flight is, most likely of the same nature as the courtship flight of the red-tailed species seen at Midway. But fewer birds participate and it is not so spectacular.
Its foods is fish; it dives from the air to catch them. One was examined which had a garfish in three folds in its gullet The part in the stomach was almost digested but the main part in the throat was perfectly fresh.
The young on the nest have a harsh cry if disturbed. The nests are found in nooks and hollows in the face of cliffs, often easily accessible. The breeding season is long, starting in April and I have seen eggs and newly hatched chicks in August One egg is laid, much streaked and spotted with red, ovoid, 2.5x1.5 inches.
| SULIDAE | Booby and Gahnet Family |
RED-FOOTED BOOBY
Sula sula rubripes Gould
Hawaiian name: A.
This small gannet is white; its head tinged with buff, upper wing-coverts and quills grayish brown not visible when the bird is sitting. Legs are red, bare skin of face and bill blue, with pink markings. Length 29 inches. There is a brown backed phase which has been considered immature but which I believe to be a mature phase. When banding in July and August 1938 on Howland, Enderbury and Jarvis Islands by taking careful counts I concluded that 98% of the birds were of the brown backed phase and on Palmyra 85%. In six visits to Moku Manu off the Oahu coast in 1937 to 1941 from May to November there were not more than 2% of the brown backed phase. The brown backed phase was present on Laysan and Lisiansky Islands in June 1891 but no estimate was made of the proportion of this phase to the white birds. Young birds in first plumage are brown, lighter underneath and some with a dark band across the breast. I believe they change quickly to the mature plumage. On October 3, 1940 I saw a red-footed booby of a uniformly beautiful gray color on Moku Manu. The egg, one in a clutch, is limy and bluish like the other gannets, 2.35x1.7 inches. The newly hatched chick has no covering when hatched. Its skin is black and exposure to the sun quickly kills it. However, a beautiful covering of pure white down soon protects it The old birds on the nests and later the large white chicks provide pretty sights on Moku Manu.
1. Hawaiian Hawk
2. Hawaiian Hawk
3. Hawaiian Hawk
4. Hawaiian Duck
5. Cackling Goose
6. Hawaiian Goose
(Three different phases of plumage.)
1. Laysan Island Rail
2. Hawaiian Coot
3. Hawaiian Rail
4. Spotted Hawaiian Rail
5. Hawaiian Gallinule
Red-footed booby (Sula sula rubripes) on nest on Moku Manu.
Photo by C. K. Wentworth.
Red-footed booby and chick on nest in Haole Koa, Ulupau Head, Oahu.
Photo by William V. Ward
This species differs little from the other two bobbies in flight and in feeding habits but its nesting is different. It dislikes the ground and never builds on the surface if it can find shrubbery to support its nest or trees to build in. However, when compelled to build on the ground it makes a neat nest of sticks and vines up about a foot high. It has a curious habit of sleeping with its head hanging to the full length of its long neck over the side of the nest and looks exactly as if dead.
BROWN BOOBY
Sula leucogaster plotus (Forster)
Other names: Common Booby; Hooded Booby; Brown-Vested Booby. Hawaiian name: A.
When I was on the island of Niihau in November 1939 I found that the natives there called all three boobies A, pronounced "ah." Andrews' Hawaiian Dictionary says: "Name of a large sea bird often caught by the natives; also called aaianuheakane, feathers white."
This well marked species is dark brown all over, except from breast backwards where it is pure white; bill pearl gray with bluish tinge; legs and feet pale yellow with a bluish tinge in the male. The female is larger than the male with bill stouter and longer. Average length 32 inches. It is larger than the red-footed species though there is little difference in length. The immature bird differs little from the immature of the red-footed. The downy chick is white, but naked when hatched; two eggs to a clutch, a dirty white limy shell covering with bluish underlay, 2.4x1.7 inches.
It nests in small companies on islands of the Hawaiian Chain, on Niihau, Moku Manu off Oahu and islands to the south. The largest colony I have seen was on Rose Atoll near Samoa. A young one taken from there to one of the Manua Islands near Samoa, seen in 1938, was tame and quite at home in a native village. Two banded birds travelled westward from Howland and Jarvis Islands, one about 3,800 miles nearly to New Guinea the other about 1,800 miles to Nauru. Another went a few hundred miles south as did two red-footed boobies.
Like the other boobies it flies high when fishing and dives straight down into the water, though sometimes obliquely when in full flight. Returning to its island it flies with heavy flapping flight dose to the surface of the water.
It nests on the ground using little material; on Niihau in 1939 they were on a ledge of a precipitous cliff. It is much persecuted by the frigate bird and this is probably the reason its communities are scattered.
BLUE-FACED BOOBY
Sula dactylatra personata Gould
Other names: Masked Booby; Masked Gannet. Hawaiian name: A.
This is the largest of our Hawaiian Boobies or gannets and averages about 33.75 inches in length,the female is over an inch longer than the male. Its plumage is almost pure white; wing quills, greater wing-coverts and tail feathers chocolate brown. Bill pale yellow, face blue-black; legs and feet yellowish brown; iris yellow. Immature birds are spotted with brown on the back when changing to adult plumage. Chicks are covered with white down. Two eggs are laid covered with a limy substance over pale bluish color, elongate ovate, they measure an average of 2.98x2 inches.
It has a wide distribution in the central and western Pacific. It breeds on islands of the Hawaiian Chain and on islands to the south. It is not known to nest in the main group unless perhaps on islands off Niihau. Caum saw a few nesting on Kaula in 1932.
Many banded on islands of the Equatorial group returned in succeeding years to the same island to breed; no banded birds of this species have so far been reported from a distance. '
Like the other boobies it flies high when watching for its favorite flying fish and low when returning to the nesting island. A large flock diving together into a close packed shoal of fish is a wonderful sight. When the young are in first plumage and changing to adult plumage they gather in flocks of several hundreds on the breeding island. The least disturbance day or night sets them off with loud raucous quacking. The female uses this loud quack when disturbed on the nest but the adult male has only a squeaking or hissing sound; the pair stay together by the nest a great part of the time. Flying fish are plentiful near the islands and the birds are almost always replete. The frigate birds despoil them of their catch, though they succeed in retaining sufficient to feed their young. One observer is positive that it always gives up a flying fish to the frigate, retains a squid for its young and a flying fish for itself.
Immature noddy tern (Anous stolidus pileatus Scopoli) on Rabbit Island, Oahu.
Photo by William V. Ward.
Red-footed boobies on nests, Moku Manu. Large downy chick sitting up in middle. Sooty tern and other birds in the air.
Photo by C. K. Wentworth.
They nest in scattered companies laying their two eggs on the bare ground. The young bird in taking its food from the parent thrusts its head right down the old bird's throat.
| FREGATIDAE | Frigate Bird Family |
FRIGATE BIRD
| Fregata minor palmerstoni (Gmelin) | Plate 7, Fig. 7 |
Other name: Man-o'-War Hawk. Hawaiian name: Iwa (a thief).
Hawaiian tern or white-capped noddy (Atwus minutus melanogenys) on Midway Island.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
The female is larger than the male, their average length being about 37.5 inches. Their wing spread is over 7 feet. Bills are strongly hooked at the tip, and their feet much atrophied so as to be almost useless to them. The male is black above with a metallic gloss of green and purple on the feathers, long lance shaped feathers on the back; blackish brown below; wings and deeply forked tail black; gular pouch reddish yellow, capable of being blown up into a scarlet balloon under its beak as a mating attraction. The female is blackish brown with little gloss, breast white; scarlet round the eyes, gular pouch and greater part of lower mandible, rest of bill gray; legs pinkish white. The young have head and neck brick red changing to white, probably before they take wing, upper parts brown and lower white. Chicks are covered with white down. The egg is white, oval, 2.5x1.1 inches. When the chick is well grown a second egg is sometimes laid, and a large chick and an egg or a large chick and a small one may be seen on some nests. A curious sight is to come on a rookery with males sitting on the nests, a number of them with their red neck bladders partly blown up; once I counted 8 close together.
Red-tailed tropic bird (Phæthon rubricauda rothschildi Matthews) on Midway Island.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
This bird cannot stand, walk or probably even swim. But in the daytime, at least, it can live almost indefinitely in the air. The night air currents may not be so favorable to it in flight thus it generally returns to its roosting place in the evening, where it sits on some slightly elevated object. It can catch fish from the surface of the water without alighting, rob other birds in the air, pick up a small object from the ground if it has fairway to drop down, poise itself over it and rise unimpeded. Only once did I see one settle on the water and to my surprise it rose from the surface without difficulty. It is almost helpless to take wing from a perfectly level land surface. A slight elevation permits it to spread its wings and utilize the warm upcurrent of air, when a few flaps takes it off. They swarm over every nesting island; floating high in the heavens, mere specks in the distance and soaring in the air at every level, and numbers sitting on their nests on top of the shrubbery. Where there are no plants large enough to support their nests they build up from the ground, robbing other nests for material if left unguarded.
Blue-faced booby (Sula dactylatra personata Gould) and young on Necker Island.
Photo by courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
Anything in the way of flesh is food for the frigate bird. It can fish for itself if its prey comes to the surface of the water, or catch flying fish on the wing. The young birds, distinguished by their white heads, are constantly on the watch for any chicks left unattended. Even the old frigates must watch against them. When we walked through a rookery of nesting frigate birds and disturbed the sitting birds many chicks were carried off and swallowed by these white-headed marauders. They take turns in dipping and poising over their prey. It does not matter which one catches it, the quickest flier of the others has an equal chance of swallowing it. Their habit is to drop their prey several times, dive down and catch it in midair. But usually another has caught it and so it passes from one to another till dead when it is quickly swallowed. If a fish, it is ferociously torn to pieces by the others from the bill of its captor.
The large chicks on the nests calling for food hiss like young owls; they squeal, rattle their bills and swing their long flexible necks from side to side menacingly when approached; while the old birds on the wing over the nests keep up a continuous kek kek.
Their soaring flight is beautiful and a few hundred on the wing when put off their nests is a sight to be remembered. Several hundred of them join in a flock, heads to the wind, independently, without progressing, they sail from one side to the other, passing and repassing each other; wings not moving, long forked tails opening and closing, heads moving from side to side, they present a unique and beautiful sight. A wide column of these birds half a mile long high in the air sailing to sea in the evening is an almost incredible sight. I saw this in July 1938 on Howland Island. Hadden also describes it at Midway. They would not likely be migrating in the middle of the breeding season. Possibly they were going out to meet the incoming food laden boobies.
The frigate is not credited with flying far from its home base. One banded on Enderbury Island travelled about 1,100 miles to Tongareva or Penrhyn Island. It was retaken there and its band number reported to the Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D. C. It may, of course, have been caught in a storm and blown there. It went in the opposite direction to which some brown boobies, its favorite food provider, travelled.
ORDER CICONIIFORMES
| ARDEIDAE | Heron and Bittern Family |
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
| Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli (Gmelin) | Plate 2, Fig. 2 |
Other name: Fish Hawk. Hawaiian names: Aukuu; Aukuu-kahili. (Kahili—a flybrush, referring to the bird's white occipital plumes.)
This is one of the few non-migratory shore or land birds that is not endemic to the group. It has not changed sufficiently to be regarded as different from the species of the mainland of America which ranges from Central North America to the Argentine.
It is a fine looking bird in full plumage. The head of a male specimen shot at Hanalei, Kauai in April 1891 was blue-black on top, the upper parts greenish brown, under parts and forehead of a whitish shade; legs yellowish green; bill black; occipital white plumes 7.87 inches long, not full grown; length 25.87 inches in the flesh immature are ordinary-looking light brown birds.
It is common on most of the large islands of the group. Not common on Niihau and rarely seen on Lanai. It frequents shore lagoons and muddy shore lines, standing stock still in the water with neck drawn in and striking at passing pond and sea life; it also captures some of its food on land. Its food is chiefly small fish, dragon fly larvae, water beetles and mice. Its voice is a hoarse croaking quack. It nests in company, building in trees a rough nest of sticks and twigs.
ORDER ANSERI FORMES
| ANATIDAE | Duck, Goose and Swan Family |
HAWAIIAN GOOSE
| Nesochen sandwichensis (Vigors) | Plate 3, Fig. 6 |
Hawaiian name: Nene.
"Adult male. Hind neck, head, cheeks, chin and throat black, as also a narrow ring around lower throat, rest of neck and sides of head brownish buff; feathers on throat and sides of neck narrow and acute and so arranged as to disclose their black bases; above deep hoary brown, feathers margined broadly with brownish white, rump and tail dusky black, as also the primaries; beneath grayish brown; feathers on sides and flank with gray tips; lower belly and under tailcoverts white; bill and feet black. Length 23 to 28 inches the female the smaller." (Henshaw.)
This fine bird, endemic to the Hawaiian group and confined to Hawaii and Maui, was originally very common on Hawaii and not at all uncommon on the northwest slope of Hualalai, North Kona, in 1891. It probably migrated between Hawaii and Maui and sometimes was. reported to straggle to other islands. The other islands did not present foraging grounds on the uplands as attractive to it as the mountains of Hawaii and Haleakala on Maui. It had become accustomed to semiarid waterless country where it obtained the moisture it needed from the upland berries on which it fed in the summer and the rich soft plants of the lowland lava flows where it wintered and raised its young. From being long away from water the webs of its feet had become atrophied and shrunken to about half the size of those of other geese. It probably never swam unless perhaps in lagoons on the lowlands. Yet it enjoys swimming in domestication. The sparse vegetation on the open lava flows is rich, especially on the lowlands in the wet season, hence the birds migrated to the lowlands to breed. Those we collected there were much fatter than the specimens we took at about 2,000 feet elevation.
We hunted this goose in December 1891 on the rough lava flow of 1801, down nearly to sea level, and up the side of the mountain on the Huehue ranch to about 2,200 feet elevation. It was open shooting season and a party of hunters went over ground at the higher elevation where we had taken specimens a few days before. They found a nest with four eggs, caught two very young chicks and shot a young bird nearly full grown. We were not fortunate in finding young birds. It pained us to kill specimens at a time when the birds had young but the few we killed were as nothing compared to the numbers the hunters would shoot of this unwary bird. Ten years afterwards Henshaw drew attention to the mistake of having the open season when the birds were breeding. It is little wonder that the species faced danger of complete extinction in a wild state. There are still a few wild birds and some semi-wild that have been raised by ranchers. It is likely that the ranchers have saved the species in a wild state by this action. The bird is now under protection and it is hoped that those remaining will become sufficiently wary to fight, the mongoose from its eggs and young.
The nest is described as a hollow in the ground, or the eggs laid on the surface surrounded by a fringe of pieces of brush. Henshaw gives the number of eggs as from three to six. He described them as of a delicate cream white, averaging about 3.36x2.35 inches. The Hawaiians told us they generally had only two chicks. The two little goslings we saw were brown with whitish markings principally on the under parts. They seemed quite unafraid, of human beings. The natives used to hunt the nene for food when the birds were moulting and unable to fly, as related by Wilson in "Birds of the Sandwich Islands."
HAWAIIAN DUCK
| Anas wyvilliana wyvilliana Sclater | Plate 3, Fig. 4 |
Hawaiian names: Koloa; Koloa maoli. (Maoli signifies 'indigenous' or 'native,' to distinguish the bird from the migratory and domestic ducks.)
"Adult Top of head blackish; neck, upper back and interscalpulars brown with rufous brown bands; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts brownish black; speculum deep purple, bordered with white; sides of head, neck and throat brown mottled; breast rufous brown with U-shaped blackish markings; abdomen brownish buff; sides of body rufous heavily marked with deep brown; length about 20 inches' (Henshaw.) Some of the males have the central tail feathers curled upwards. The chick in the down is brown on the back,.lighter below.
This duck is peculiar to the main islands of the Hawaiian group and was originally a common bird in coastal lagoons, marshes and mountain streams on all islands except Lanai and Kahoolawe. Perkins saw it in small pools on mountain forest bogs. Through loss, of feeding grounds, draining of lagoons, shooting, the mongoose and other predaceous animals it has been much reduced in numbers and should now be strictly protected by law. On Oahu it is making a bold bid for survival by nesting on the twin islands of Mokulua off Lanikai, and returning to Oahu carrying or swimming the chicks to the Kawainui swamp at Kailua or in the outlet of the Kaelepulu pond by Lanikai Mr. John Fleming saw a duck fly to the swamp carrying a young one between its feet, Alona, an old Hawaiian, saw a duck alight in a taro patch and three ducklings swim out from it; a few days afterward she had 7 young ones. Some boys caught 14, two broods, on the beach near the outlet of the Kaelepulu pond and then released them. It is hoped that war measures on those island refuges will not be detrimental to them. It would be interesting to know if the ducks originally nested on Mokulua islands or whether they have retreated there to outwit cats and mongooses. The eggs are safe on Mokulua except from human beings, and once on the lagoons and marshes they are safe from predaceous animals. On March 9,1941, David Woodside saw 5 nests on one of the Mokulua islands. They contained from 8 to 10 eggs. Most nests there have 8 eggs. One I found when searching for them had the eggs so well covered that the nest was quite indistinguishable from the surrounding surface. I stepped on the eggs and heard them break and yet could see nothing but dead grass leaves. Moving the covering aside revealed the eggs resting in the down lined nest. The unbroken eggs were taken as specimens for the Bishop Museum. On one occasion an observer gently pushed a setting bird off her eggs, counted them and left before the bird moved. Eggs are white, ovoid and average 2.12x1.29 inches. Mokulua should be strictly protected after the war and the koloa allowed to nest there in safety in the future.
The koloa is an able flier, active on the ground or in the water. Its food is mostly pond life. Henshaw found their stomachs filled with two species of fresh-water molluscs. The crops of some we shot in Kona close to grass land were filled with earthworms. They at times left the pond and foraged in the grass. Their voice is that of the domesticated duck, the female quacking and the male hissing. A wounded duck hiding in the pond quacked to her mate when he returned calling for her.
LAYSAN DUCK
Anas wyvilliana laysanensis Rothschild
Other name: Laysan Teal.
The Laysan duck is endemic to Laysan Island, but in a precarious position as to survival. It is evidently a descendent of the koloa but is smaller, being about 16 inches in length; about the same color, differing by having an irregular white ring around, the eye. The female is smaller than the male and has less white about the eye. Some of the males have the central feathers of the tail curled up like some of the males of the Hawaiian duck. The downy chicks are darker in color than the chicks of the latter. We found no eggs except a shelless one in the oviduct of a female. It measured 2.12x1.43 inches. Captain Freeth said eggs he had seen were generally smaller and shorter.
This duck though strong on its feet is weak on the wing and swims but little. It has difficulty in rising and generally flies only a short distance, but one I chased to test its flight "rose pretty high and flew a good long distance." It is unwary and some that were raised in the camp returned to their coop every night after being released. The wild ones ran around the buildings in the evenings and early mornings chasing moths which furnished food for all the land birds on the island at that time. They also fed on caterpillars and maggots. In the daytime several might be seen sitting along the top rail of a fence around a vegetable patch at a brackish water seep.
Hunters had shot a number when the guano works were started but Captain George Freeth, manager of the works and Governor of the island had this species under special protection when we were there. So we took but few specimens. In fact all the birds of Laysan were given a measure of protection. Freeth used to send men before the mule cars, to clear the track of the young birds that had strayed there. The guano deposits had been built up through countless ages by the droppings of the birds and dead bodies of thousands of young birds of all sizes killed in storms. The principal guano producer was the Laysan albatross but numbers of other birds contributed to the deposits. It seemed reasonable to protect this source of wealth for future generations. The duck and small birds were protected for esthetic and scientific reasons. Pity it was that protection was not carried on effectively in years following the closing of the guano works. Declaring it a bird sanctuary as Theodore Roosevelt did in 1909 was not enough. Periodical inspection and care are necessary also.
Laysan duck (Anas wyvilliana laysanensis), Laysan Island.
Photo by Dr. Alfred M. Bailey, 1913.
The Japanese plume hunters in 1909 probably killed the duck for food, but when Professor Dill was there in 1911, before rabbits devastated the island, there were six of them living. After rabbits had made a desert of the island Dr. Wetmore saw 20 individuals in 1925. Coultas of the Zaca expedition in 1936 saw 11 but his stay was short and he probably did not see all that were there.
A bird that can come through such trials and vicissitudes as this bird has and rehabilitate itself deserves respect and every chance to perpetuate its species. No further collecting of specimens of any bird should be permitted on Laysan till it is known that the rare birds have fully recovered.
PINTAIL DUCK
| Anas acuta tzitzihoa Vieillot | Plate 5, Figs. 3 & 4 |
Other name: Sprig. Hawaiian names: Mapu; Koloa mapu. (Mapu signifies to rise and float off, as a cloud, which well describes the immense flocks of the past.)
"Adult male: Head and upper neck hair brown glossed with green and purple; sides of head with white stripe; dorsal line of neck black; lower neck and underparts white; back and sides vermiculated with black; speculum greenish purple; tertials and scalpulars silvery and black; tail cuneate with much projecting middle feathers. Length about 28 inches. Female: Above grayish dusky with bars and streaks of yellowish brown; lower parts chiefly white; flanks and under tail-coverts streaked with dusky. Smaller." (Henshaw.)
The pintail duck is a regular winter migrant to these islands and spends.so much of the year here that it is justifiable to class it with the indigenous birds.
The regular migrants of which there are five waders and two swimmers arrive in the Hawaiian group in the autumn and leave in the spring. There does not seem to be accurate data on their arrival and departure except for the Pacific Golden Plover which arrives in August and September and leaves in May. That gives at least 7 to 8 months of their year here, and probably more as they often appear in July (at least on Midway and Niihau). The other migratory birds may not spend so much of their time in the group but even so, it is undoubtedly more than half of the year. They do not breed here, except rarely the curlew, so are technically not indigenous.
In the past this bird came in large numbers to the islands. In March 1891 there were large flocks in the lagoons at Mana, Kauai and in the fish ponds near Kailua, Hawaii in December of the same year, but they were quite shy in both places. We had difficulty in getting a limited number of specimens. They visited the coast of Molokai during the time 1 was there, 1899 to 1906, and I took specimens at Palaau on that island. I saw a few at Kawela, Molokai in January 1943 and several hundred on the Kanaha pond near Kahului, Maui, where they had become very tame through having been protected for several years by the plantation people. In 1939 one was found exhausted in the surf at Jarvis Island about 1,300 miles south of these islands. Early in 1943 a flock arrived at Palmyra about 1,000 miles from the main islands. About 22 were kept in a pea for awhile but as they did not thrive were released. Some of them continued to return to the pen and spend the night there for a considerable time thereafter.
SHOVELLER DUCK
| Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus) | Plate 5, Figs. 12 & 13 |
Other names: Spoonbill; Spoonie. Hawaiian names: Moha; Koloa moha. (Moha signifies shiny, referring to the shiny green head.)
"Adult male. Head and neck green; breast and outer scalpulars white; rest of under parts chestnut; crissum dark bluish green, bordered anteriorly by white; bill black and twice as wide at tip as at base; feet orange-red. Length about 20 inches. Female duller." (Henshaw.)
Like the pintail this is one of the regular migrants that spend the winter months in the Hawaiian group. We secured specimens at Honokahau pond near Kailua, Hawaii in December 1891. I collected two that landed in the reservoir at Koele, Lanai in December 1916. There are no streams or ponds except water storage reservoirs on Lanai and the only ducks that come there are stragglers from other islands or the mainland. A flock of ducks which were probably of this species were arriving at the Kanaha pond on Maui when I was therein January 1943. They had been out foraging elsewhere and were coming back to the sanctuary for the day.
ORDER FALCONIFORMES
| ACCIPITRIDAE | Hawk and Osprey Family |
HAWAIIAN HAWK
| Buteo solitarius Peale | Plate 3, Figs. 1, 2 & 3 |
Hawaiian name: lo.
For a long time, according to Professor H. W. Henshaw, the two distinct phases of color in this interesting species were not understood. He concluded that the adult dark phase is mostly blackish brown and the young are also blackish brown but not so dark as the adult. The light phase is mostly buff with some variations; the young of this phase have the head and neck light buff, upper parts dark brown and under parts buff. Henshaw gives the length of the adult male about 15 1/2 inches; of adult female, about 18 inches."
Henshaw lived ten years in Hilo, Hawaii, near the haunts of this bird and collected a large series of specimens of all stages. Perkins had also stuffed the species but thought with others that those with the light phase were young birds. He had seen several nests in Kona but the parent birds were in all cases dark in color. However, he did not doubt the correctness of Henshaw's observations.
The io is endemic to the island of Hawaii and is well distributed over the island from about 2,000 to 5,000 feet elevation. It favors the outer, more open forest rather than the very dense rain forest. In the eighteen nineties it was fairly common in some localities. It is now reduced in numbers but is still well distributed over the island.
This hawk is a strong flier and rises high in the air in its courtship flights, squeaking as the pairs wheel in wide circles one high above the other. When hunting it sits still on a low tree watching for rats and mice. I have been told it also follows mynahs till it tires them; when the mynah tires it seeks the ground and the hawk pounces on it. The native birds, keeping much to the trees, are probably little molested by it Neither Perkins nor Henshaw found evidence of its attacking native birds. Both concluded that the io is a useful bird and does little harm. Our observations coincided with those of the two eminent scientists. The birds we killed were gorged with mice, rats, spiders, hawkmoths and caterpillars. Feeding on spiders was detrimental to them, as the webs clogged their feathers and formed in solid masses round their claws and eventually disabled some of them. Only on one occasion when I was with the Rothschild expedition were there remains of birds in the stomachs of any we examined. In that case it was parts of a ricebird. They do kill birds occasionally but during the eighteen nineties rats and mice furnished their principal food. Sportsmen and farmers condemn the bird and it is difficult to obtain protection for it. It should be protected as its usefulness exceeds its harmfulness.
The nest of the io is a massive structure built of twigs and sticks secure in a tree not a great height from the ground. Perkins states that the old birds are very bold when there are young in the nest and are driven away only with difficulty.
1. Mallard Duck—male
2. Mallard Duck—female
3. Pintail Duck—male
4. Pintail Duck—female
5. Lesser Scaup Duck—male
6. Lesser Scaup Duck—female
7. Canvasback Duck—male
8. Canvasback Duck—female
9. American White-fronted Goose
10. Baldpate—male
11. Baldpate—female
12. Shoveller Duck—male
13. Shoveller Duck—female
14. Lesser Snow Goose
1. Bristle-thighed Curlew
2. Wandering Tattler
3. Hawaiian Stilt
4. Noddy Tern
5. Hawaiian Tern
6. Gray-backed Tern
ORDER GALLIFORMES
| PHASIANIDAE | Pheasant, Quail and Partridge Family |
HAWAIIAN FOWL
Gallus gallus gallus (Linnaeus)
Other name: Wild Chicken. Hawaiian name: Moa. (Moa is also the Maori name for a gigantic wingless and now extinct chicken-like bird of New Zealand. The first Polynesian immigrants, who reached New Zealand while the bird was still extant, evidently connected it with the chickens they had long known.)
The descendents of the wild jungle fowl, here when Captain Cook discovered the group, may be considered native birds though many thousand miles from their original habitat During the course of their migrations they undoubtedly changed from wild to at least semi-domestic, finally reverting here in Hawaii to their original wild state. We can only conjecture the course of their changes, as migratory peoples carried the birds with them from place to place: from the Asiatic mainland through the Malays to Polynesia, then with these hardy voyagers to Hawaii. Such migrations cover many generations, so it is unthinkable that birds closely accompanying these nomads did not take on domestication. Nor can we know how soon after being released in Hawaii they reverted and again ran wild in the forests. They may even have crossed with the imported domestic fowls and taken their offspring with them.
The fowls we saw in the forests at Makaweli had somewhat the appearance of game fowl. They were rather small and of neat appearance. Of two shot January 27, 1891, one old male had silver hackles and beautiful golden back, his under parts slate blue, his spurs nearly an inch long. Another had blood-red hackles, under parts and tail blue-black, spurs not grown. A cock and hen were shot on February 7, 1891. The cock, an old bird, measured 32.5 inches from tip of bill to end of tail, in the flesh, following curves, tail 17.75 inches. Hackles gold, tail black and white, primaries mostly white, secondaries and under parts steel gray with a rusty patch on the secondaries, a red band ran across his wing-coverts and back. The spurs were curved and nearly two inches long; comb, face, ears and wattles red; bill gray; legs and feet white; iris light red. The hell was 19.38 inches long; neck light gold; above brown with a light line down the center of most of the feathers; under parts a rusty color; comb, face, and wattles red; bill light brown; legs bluish slate; iris light red.
It is known that the Hawaiians kept them for food, sacrifice and the sport of cock fighting. The feathers were also used for making kahilis.
At the time we were collecting throughout the islands they were numerous at Gay and Robinson's Makaweli ranch on Kauai where they frequented the outer parts of the forest. They were less common in other parts of the island though we saw some at Hanalei; also at Halemanu where Mr. Knudsen had taken them from Makaweli, as domestic fowls did not thrive there. The wild birds did well and are still there. I saw them near Kokee in that vicinity in 1936. I heard hens cackle in the Kona forest in 1891 and in the Oahu forest in 1935 but was not certain that they were the real wild birds. Mr. Charles Gay took them to Lanai about 1902 where they still exist. They fly fairly well but tire after a long flight Seeds and insects in the grass lands of the scattered forest, various forest fruits and berries, and fruit of the introduced guava furnish them with food. The cock's crow and the hen's cackle are like those of the domestic fowl. The hens bring out large broods of chicks.
ORDER GRUI FORMES
| RALLIDAB | Rail and Coot Family |
LAYSAN ISLAND RAIL
| Porzanula palmeri Frohawk | Plate 4, Fig. 1 |
Other name: Laysan Crake.
