58 Director'' s Annual Report. 



hair, which was to be found there, intending to fill the pasteboard 

 lunch box we carried with it. Noticing a small bird flutter into 

 a bunch of a-a [rough lava] I went to the place. The bird flew 

 out again, but I saw the ne.st wedged into a crevice in the rock. 

 After considerable difficulty I broke away the rock and secured 

 the nest. There were a few bits of egg shells in it. The bird was 

 small and brown, not as big as a sparrow. There were only a few 

 low bushes scattered about here and there over the plain." 



Fig. 2. NEST OF PELE'S HAIR : TOP. 



The nest is, for the most part, constructed of the hair-like 

 material, although there is a judicious use of fine roots, especially 

 in the outer layers. Though slightly flattened with age, it is un- 

 mistakably nest shape, and could not be mistaken as a chance 

 accumulation of the above materials blown into a crevice in the 

 rocks. It measures 4.5 inches across by 1.75 in depth. The spe- 

 cies of bird that is responsible for the nest will probably never be 

 determined. I have elsewhere noted (Cpndor, vol. v, p. 79) that 

 all of the common Hawaiian birds are to be found in the crater of 

 Kilauea proper, but none of these, so far as I know, have been 

 known to use this peculiar and local substance in nest-building ; 

 and none of the smaller Hawaiian birds have before been recorded 

 as using crevices in the rocks for nesting purposes. 



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