So))ic Birds of Molokai . 63 



But to return to the search. As a last resort, I climbed up 

 iuto the tree intending to drop a stone from the place the shot 

 struck the limb the bird had been sitting on, in the hope of locating 

 more acurately the spot where it should have struck the ground. 

 To my joy I found the mangled remains hanging in the tree in a 

 thick bunch of leaves, six feet or more beyond where it had been 

 sitting. It was, as I feared, badly mutilated. However, it was 

 made into a very fair cabinet skin. 



Feeling that where one bird had been found others were likely 

 to be, and being elated at the success of the day, I altered my 

 plans so as to extend my stay in the localit}-. Accordingl}-, on the 

 third of June, with my guide I packed my range tent and outfit 

 into the mountains and established a new camp in the jungle, at 

 the head of Waialua valley. The country here was so steep and 

 rugged that it was difficult to find a place seven feet square that 

 would do to pitch a tent on. I need hardly add that it rained con- 

 tinuously. The trail was continued along the ridge between Wai- 

 alua and Honouliwai streams. Early in the afternoon I dismissed 

 my native and continued on the trail alone. I had covered no 

 great distance when under circumstances similar to those already 

 described, I heard the call note "Hoa" again, this time a hundred 

 yards or so in front of me. My best efforts at imitating it seemed 

 to have no effect. I whistled and called and hoped. At first the 

 bird answered my calls, then it failed to respond. I continued 

 w^histlmg until it seemed certain that it must have gone off in 

 some diredlion, when, without reason or warning, my second Hoa 

 flew and lit in a Kopiko tree, not fifty feet away and began to 

 preen and spread its wings. Catching sight of me it began to 

 work off through the woods. I fired, and this time had no difficulty 

 in picking up a perfect adult male .specimen. Though I stayed in 

 in the vicinity for more than an hour nothing was seen or heard 

 of its mate. 



The following day found me early in the field. Though there 

 was a steady downpour of cold rain I worked on until three o'clock. 

 Not meeting with anything to encourage me, I climbed up iuto a 

 tree preparatory to taking a last survey of the country, if there 

 should come a rift in the dense fog clouds. Presently I caught a 

 note entirely different from anv I had yet heard. It was a rollicking 



'[153]' 



