THE OSPREY. 



Ao lllustrciteci \4agazioe of Popular Ornithology. 



Pahlisbed |V1ontt)ly, 



VOIAMK IV. 



SEPTEMBER, 1899. 



Number 1. 



Original Articles. 



FAMILIAR BIRDS OF HONOLULU, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 

 Rv Mii.TON S. Ray, Saii Francisco, Cal. 



Althoiig'h some years af^o several species of 

 native birds were common about the City of Ho- 

 nolulu, they are now seldom seen, with the ex- 

 ception of the Gallinule, Owl and Plover. Of 

 these the Gallinule ((>'<illiiiul(i satidviceusis) is the 

 most abundant, inhabiting' the marshes above 

 Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. A legend is told 

 of it to account for the red patch on its forehead. 

 It was supposed to be the orig'inator of fire, and 

 the natives long- soug^ht to discover the secret. 

 One day it was found attempting- to extinguish 

 some burnincf embers, but the effort resulted in 

 a patch being- burnt on the head. 



Althoug-h formerly quite numerous, the Short- 

 eared Owl [Asia (ivcipifrhiun) is now but occasion- 

 ally seen. This bird has an extended g^eogra- 

 phical rang-e, being found in North America, 

 Europe, Asia, and most of the Pacific islands as 

 far south, it is said, as the Gallapagos g-roup. 



The Plover ((.'hantdfiiis d(»intticits /ulrKS) fre- 

 quents the beach and inarshes. 



The VeMhina coceinea, whose crimson plumage 

 was extensively used in making- feather pa'us 

 (the royal robes of the Hawaiian,) is now only 

 found in the mountains, although Prof. W. T. 

 Brigham saw them several j-ears ago in the 

 city. 



Among introduced species the Maina (Acrido- 

 i/ieiTS iristis) from Itidia is the most conspicuous. 

 This bird practically runs the town. It has a 

 cruel and quarrelsome nature, frequently driving 

 the Pig-eons from their cotes to build its own nest 

 there. Another favorite nesting-place is on the 

 platform above the arc lights of the town, and 

 the nest material dropping down and interfering 

 with the ligf-hts, the linemen delight in destroy- 

 ing them. It also builds in crevices of cliffs, 

 papia, palm and cocoanut trees, often at a great 

 height. But a nest found on March 17, 1898, 

 was in a cocoanut tree onlj' 8 feet from the 

 ground. It was placed among dead bark, and 

 was made principally of twigs, together with 



paper, rags and other rubbish. The eggs, five in 

 number, are light green, and average 1.12 x 0.87. 

 On one occasion I observed a Maina endeavor- 

 ing- to fly away with a full sheet of a newspaper, 

 the flapping- of her wings against it making a 

 great racket; and onh' after several attempts 

 did the bird give it up. 



Another common bird is the Eastern Turtle 

 Dove {Tartiir clnnen.->is), brought from China, 

 which has increased rapidly, as firearms are 

 seldom used. It seems to prefer as nesting sites 

 g-roves of algerobas on the hillsides. The al- 

 geroba is an introduced thorny tree — so thorny, 

 in fact, that to reach a nest about ten feet up 

 is difficult. Up to March 25th all nests I ex- 

 amined contained fresh eggs. They were built 

 of rootlets and weed stems, and placed from 10 

 to 30 feet from the ground. 



Two species of herons from China, the House 

 Finch, California Partridge, Java Sparrow, 

 Pheasant, Rice-bird, and the ever-present House 

 Sparrow (equally at home among tropical foliage 

 and in the dust and dirt of our citj' streets) com- 

 plete the list of introduced birds. 



It is said there are no reptiles on the island,* 

 but had the two live snakes been liberated which 

 Prof. Brigham informed me he found in a bale 

 of hay from California, this would not be so. He 

 promptU' dispatched them, however, as he did 

 not consider their introduction desirable. Two 

 Cockatoos suffered a similar fate as they would 

 be very destructive to the fruits of the Island. 



While following up a rivulet in the mountains 

 one daj', I was surprised at the absence of 

 animal life. Here, along this clear sparkling 

 stream shaded with palm, kukui, guava, lime 

 and other tropical trees and abotniding with 

 insect life, it seemed a veritable paradise for 

 birds. This scarcity is no doubt due to the 

 former custom of the natives who, in order to 

 decorate themselves, nearly exterminated them. 



♦Although the class of reptiles is not represented by any snakes in the Hawaiian Islands, no less than seven species 

 of lizards— four Geckos end three Skinks— occur lU the archipelago. These have been described in a very recently 

 published monograph of -The Land Reptiles of the Hawaiian Islands by Leonhard Stejneger'" (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 xxi, 783-813).— Editor. 



