So///f Birds of Molokai. 6i 



and could look down into the valley below. From where we stood 

 one could have thrown a stone into the stream we had left, so 

 nearly vertical was the rock wall we had scaled. From this point 

 we kept on the ridge, cutting our trail a considerable distance into 

 the mountains before night came on. On our return to camp late 

 that night, we abandoned the stream entirely and opened a new 

 trail down the main ridge. 



Owing to the injuries resulting from his fall, my boy was unfit 

 for duty the following day. In his stead an old, well informed 

 mountain-going native was engaged. By an earh- hour we were 

 at the farthest point reached the daj' before. For six hours, in 

 the rain and fog, through a tangle of ieie and uhi (Smilax) vines, 

 over, through, and under the moss-covered trees and roots, we 

 forced our waj^ still further up the ridge into the interior. It was 

 the most uncomfortable sort of weather, and taken altogether it 

 was exceeding!}' disagreeable, disheartening work. All day long 

 we had not seen a single bird that could not have been colledled 

 in an hour's time by patiently waiting under an}' one of the flower- 

 ing ohia trees we had passed by in the early morning on our way 

 up the trail. 



In the middle of the afternoon, I took the trail knife to give 

 the old guide a chance to rest, for he had been chopping on the 

 path since early morning. We were w^orking in a particularly 

 dense and unpromising jungle of ieie, when I heard a clear, gentle, 

 even, inquiringly whistled "H-o-a" called by some bird not more 

 than fifty yards away. It was a moment of intense excitement. 

 There was little doubt in my mind but that the note was that of 

 the bird I had so long sought. Making signs to the native to 

 hurry to me with the gun, I began to imitate the whistle call as 

 best I could. To my delight the curious black bird with the won- 

 derfully curved bill, the object of my seeking, flew down and lit in 

 a tree within ten feet of me ! It was evident that curiosity aroused 

 by my chopping had brought the bird to the spot to investigate. 



Actively hopping and flitting from limb to limb, scarcely 

 stopping a second, eyeing me sharply all the while, it persisted in 

 keeping so close to me that I could not with safety fire even my 

 auxiliary barrel. Yet the restlessness of the bird made it appar- 

 rent that I must fire soon or lose my chance, for it the bird got 

 fifty feet from me in the tangle of trees and vines on the side of the 



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