86 Director s An?iiial Report. 



calls. One which is very puzzling, especially to the natives, is a 

 cat-like cry which is given in an inciuiring intonation from some 

 hiding place in the undergrowth. 



The species, was more abundant at Halawa than at any of the 

 other localities visited. This was doubtless due to the seclusion 

 afforded by the untrodden forests of that secftion. A few immature 

 birds were taken, but the majority of those seen were in the fully 

 adult plumage. The length of time required for the young to 

 acquire the adult plumage is apparently more than one year. 



On May i I took from thirty feet up in an Ohia tree growing 

 in the dense woods on the summit of Puualu, a nest which I have 

 no hesitanc}- in referring to this species. In the locality was a 

 pair of resident Olomao, evidently the owners of the nest (Mus. 

 No. 4710) here described. Externally it is over 6.00 inches in 

 diameter by 3.50 inches deep. Small dead Ohia twigs form the 

 foundation of the structure. Into this is placed a generous lining 

 of mo.ss and fine rootlets neatly woven together to form a substan- 

 tial thrush-like nest. The hollow of the nest is 3.50 inches across 

 by 1.50 inches in depth. The nest has evidently been used and 

 deserted, though unmistakably of recent construdlion. It is singu- 

 lar that as yet nothing is known of the eg^ of any of the species of 

 the genus, save the reference by Heushaw (Birds of the Hawaiian 

 Islands, p. 31 ) to the finding of a small fragment of an ^gg shell in 

 the stomach of a Hawaiian Hawk {Butco solitarius) which he sug- 

 gests might be a portion of an egg of Pheeoriiis obsciira of Hawaii. 



It seems worth while recording that an old native who accom- 

 panied me on my Moanui trip said that he had heard from his 

 father "that a long time ago there was on Molokai a small brown 

 bird that ran on the ground but could not fly," but that they had 

 all been dead for a long time. He gave its name as Moho {Pcn- 

 nula). He also said that his father had told him of the Elepaio 

 {Chasicmpis) being on Molokai in the olden time. Mr. Theodore 

 Meyer substantiated this report by saing that when he was a boy 

 it was generally known to the old natives that both the Moho and 

 Elepaio had been plentiful, but that thev had long ago died out. 



[176] 



