50 Director'' s Annual Report. 



add to the record cited an account of a second nest secured at 

 Kalauwai, on the island of Molokai, March 6, 1905, b)^ Mr. A. F. 

 Judd of Honolulu. 



The nest, which was a simple structure resembling the one 

 previousl}^ described, was hidden in the Pili grass in a mountain 

 pasture having a western exposure, at an elevation of between 

 eight and nine hundred feet. It contained three young birds and 

 one infertile ^ZZ- ^^ were brought to Honolulu and presented to 

 the Museum by Mr. Judd. The little owls were kept alive for some 

 time by Dr. Brigham at his residence. They grew rapidly from the 

 first on a diet of raw beef, to which a mouse was occasionally added. 

 When secured they were little more than fluffy balls of buff- 

 colored down, from which peered bright, staring, yellow eyes. 

 Within a few days the down disappeared, to be followed b}^ the 

 plumage of the young with the chara(5teristic colorings of the adult. 

 However, their development was too rapid, for on the slightest 

 provocation — perhaps while simplj^ flapping about as they gave 

 voice to their tremulous screech in joyous expe(5tation at the pros- 

 pect of food — the long bones of the wing would, without apparent 

 cause, bend and break. As a result they were, of necessity, pre- 

 pared as museum specimens, and when compared with the young 

 from the Oahu nest exhibited no differences worthy of note. 



The &%% (B. P. B. Mus. No. 3163) of this species, which is here 

 described for the first time, is a thick oval, slightly pointed in form; 

 pure white and lustreless in color, with no shell markings other than 

 nest stains. It measures i.5iXi.22in. The interesting feature 

 connected with this nest is that we now have two widely differing 

 dates (November 20 and March 6) as nesting periods for the 

 Hawaiian owl. As the American short-eared owl — the nearest 

 relative of our Pueo — nests regularly in the early spring and does 

 not rear a second brood we are led, for the present, to conclude 

 that the equable climate of the islands has encouraged this species 

 to become exceedingly lax in fixing a nesting season ; or else that 

 both the spring and the fall are taken advantage of for the purposes 



of nidification. 



[242] 



