TITE AXLMAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. ^ 293 



of ainusejiient resorted to by kiniis iiiiil priuees: it eoiisisted in sliootin<i' mice 

 as a pastime. This royal sport did not partake of the nature of a cross- 

 country hunt. The tiny animals were confined in a cockpit-like enclosure and 

 were shot at with small bows and arrows. Singularly enough, the bow and 

 arrow in the hands of the Ilawaiians was only a toy, being used solely for 

 killing mice and the flightless Hawaiian rail in the manner suggested in an 

 early chapter. 



I\IlCE. 



The house mouse ^ is the same species that is common all over the world. 

 They doubtless originated in Asia, but their partiality for human habitations, 

 and their omnivorous food habits, has resulted in their being carried far and 

 wide by man as an unwelcome passenger in his goods wherever cargo has 

 gone by sea or land. In domestication, white and spotted varieties of both 

 the house mouse and the black rat are common and have long been kept as 

 children's pets. 



There is a species of long-tailed field-mouse that is quite common in the 

 fields about Honolulu. It is probaldy of more recent introduction, doubtless 

 reaching the islands from California in bailed hay or in grain. 



Rabbits .vnd Guinea Pig.s. 



Rabbits ^ have been introduced and liberated on two or three small islands 

 in the group. Rabbit Island, a tuft'-cone on the windward side of Oahu, near 

 Makapuu Point, is thickl.v populated with a mongrel breed, the original stock 

 of which was introduced a number of years ago. 



In 1903 and 1904 rabbits of several varieties, including the Belgian hare 

 and large white rabbits, were liberated on Laysan Island. They increased at 

 such an astonishingly rapid rate that within six years the island was overrun 

 with them. A special expedition was sent out by the Government for the 

 purpose of exterminating them, as they threatened to wipe out the scanty 

 native plant life found there. 



The familiar variegated European guinea-pig, although a common pet in 

 captivity in Honolulu for many years, was liberated on Laysan Island at the 

 same time as the rabbits, and has found a congenial habitat, though its rate of 

 increase has by no means been so rapid as that of the rabbits. As to the 

 origin of the domestic guinea-pig, zoologists are somewhat in doubt. It is 

 thought, however, that Cutler's eavy ^ was kept in a state of domestication 

 by the Incas of Peru, and that the guinea-pig was introduced into Europe by 

 the Dutch in the sixteenth century, shortly after the discovery of America. 

 Various breeds have been developed under domestication as pets for children, 

 but in more recent times they have been much used in laboratories for experi- 

 mental purposes. 



Cats " were early brought to tlie islands, probably coming on the first 

 ships. The.v were called popoki '" by the natives. In course of time they 



