Egg of the Hawaiian Goose. 21 



were sent to Hilo to be luouuted. Through the purchase of the 

 Henshaw colle(ftiou one has been added to the Museum series. 



This specimen does not differ materiall}- from the nests made 

 by birds belonging to the same genus which is common on the 

 American continent. It is composed of sticks a little more than a 

 quarter of an inch thick and twelve inches in length, which ap- 

 pear to have been gathered from the ground. These are all loosely 

 piled in the upright fork without an attempt at giving the struc- 

 ture form until the bowl of the nest is reached, when they take on 

 a more systematic arrangement to conform to the shape required 

 for a nest. Into this pile of sticks the lo has introduced the stems 

 and fronds of ferns, and of them it has made a loose floor or lining 

 for the nest. The strucfture measured over 18 inches from out to out 

 across the top, was 15 inches high, with the hollow depression some 

 three inches in depth (Fig. i). No trace of Q.<g<g shells could be 

 found about the nest, hence the color and form of the eggs remain 

 unknown. Mr. Walton showed me a second nest that was much 

 weather-beaten and evidently a year or two old, which did not 

 differ in strucfture, shape or location from the one described above. 



The nest is of great interest from the fact that it puts the nest- 

 ing season of the lo in the early autumn months, whereas its 

 cousins on the continent mate and nest in February and March. 

 It will be interesting to ascertain whether or not this species nests 

 in the autumn ouh', or rears two broods a year, or has no set sea- 

 son for mating. The specimen makes a valuable addition to our 

 growing series of Hawaiian nests. 



Egg of the Hawaiian Goose. 



WM. ALANSON BRYAN. 



The Bishop Museum is indebted to my friend Mr. C. M, 

 Walton, Manager of the Hawaiian Agricultural Company, Kau, 

 Hawaii, for the eggs of the Hawaiian Goose, Nesocheyi sandvicensis 

 (Vig.), which forms a part of the group of this species now on ex- 

 hibition in Hawaiian Hall. 



The Nene, as this goose is called by the Hawaiians, has been 

 kept in confinement repeatedly in these Islands, while on several 

 occasions specimens have been taken as far as I^ondon, where they 



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