122 Bird- Lore 



the ohia, while elsewhere is found a mixture of the two trees, such mixed 

 woods beinti; a favorite resort of Hawaiian birds. 



By reason of its great abundance and luxuriant growth, the ieie is 

 the most prominent of the creeping vines, and its existence seems to 

 be indissolubly connected with the ohia, every tree being married to one 

 of the vines, whose loving embrace ceases only with deatli. 



Tree ferns, extreme examples of which attain a height of 40 feet with 

 a girth of 4. feet at the base, are very numerous; thick clumps of bananas 

 grow here and there, and the tangle is still further made up by a great 

 number of small shrubs, tree lobelias and ferns which go to swell the 

 bulk of a semi-tropical forest. 



Such a forest, as is here hinted at but not described, clothes the 

 entire windward side of Hawaii save for a belt of sugar-cane fields, some 

 three miles wide, which extends upward from the sea, each year en- 

 croaching more and more upon the forests above. 



This forest, impenetrably dense, always moist, lighted but dimly and 

 ever silent, is the chosen haunt of Hawaiian birds, and in its depths 

 have been developed those curious forms of avian life unlike any others 

 in the world. Penetrate into the ferns a few steps and then pause a 

 moment. The ohias are in blossom, and from their far-away summits, 

 crowned with clusters of rich crimson blossoms, come the calls and songs 

 of birds. By means of a good glass and with the exercise of much 

 patience most of them may be readily identified. The brilliant crimson 

 plumage of the liwi and the dull red of the Akakani, with its white 

 crissum, instantly proclaim the presence of these beautiful species. These 

 birds are the honey-eaters, par excellence, of the Hawaiian woods. 

 Their long curved bills and brush -tipped tongues are preeminently adapted 

 to glean nectar from flowers, and they drink from nature's crimson cups 

 till the liquid nectar fairly runs from their bills. 



The tree -tops, in the height of the ohia blossoming, are the scene of 

 one mad revel all day long. At such times both the liwi and the 

 Akakani sing almost incessantly, and, as other feathered denizens of the 

 forest join the throng, the scene is one of the most interesting and in- 

 spiring possible to be conceived. It can be compared onl\' to our Amer- 

 ican woods in the height of the spring migration, but in the number of 

 individuals gathered in favored spots and in the united sound of their 

 tumultuous voices it far eclipses our vernal woods. There seems to be 

 a general impression in Hawaii that the liwi and the Akakani live almost 

 entirely on honey. This is a mistake. Nectar must contain very little 

 nourishment, for these birds, even when nectar is most abundant, eat 

 great numbers of insects, especially a small green worm that infests the 

 ohia all the year round. 



In the deep forests, in tall trees, and in the undergrowth of clear- 



