THE AXLMAI. LIFE OF THE GROUP. 309 



these are ocean waifs — young and unexperienced birds — that have lost their 

 way in an attempt to migrate for the first time along the American coast on 

 their way to their winter homes in the South. Such birds are rare in the 

 islands and are seldom seen oiitside of museums. They are usually, though 

 not always, common west coast species of .gulls and terns^ and ducks.- Birds 

 of these families are well adapted by nature to enjoy life on the island shores 

 and reefs, and one is led to wonder why some of them, in times past, have not 

 taken up a residence and settled down to a fishing life, and become abundant 

 along Hawaii's coasts, now sadly destitute of sea-bird inhabitants. 



Unfortunately for the bird student, only a few of the species that regu- 

 larly frequent the waters about the islands ever come close enough to the 

 shore to be identified more exactly than to say that they are large or small sea 

 birds. Of the limited list that may be said to be common about the group, 

 there are as many as four species that nest in holes which they find or make 

 in the faces of the high clitt's in the mountains in the large inhabited islands. 

 They may be seen occasionally in the daytime flying over the land, but gener- 

 ally only their curious calls can be heard, as they are nocturnal in habit and 

 are seldom abroad during the day. 



Tropic Birds. 



Tlie white-tailed tropic bird-' is tlie species most commonly seen during the 

 daytime. It is a beautiful white bird, and in fine weather, in favored locali- 

 ties, as many as half a dozen may be seen at once, gracefully floating about the 

 clifi:'s at the head of the principal valleys of the islands. They lay but a single 

 large, cream-colored egg — thickly blotted, splotched and mottled with rich brown 

 — which they deposit in a nest of loose straws, tucked in a crevice in the face 

 of the cliff. The young nestling differs from the adult in that the body and 

 head are mottled black and white. In this stage they resemble the young of 

 the red-tailed s.pecies ^ which occurs on the low sand islands of the northwest 

 chain. The adults differ from the red-tailed species, as their name suggests, in 

 having their long tail white, or salmon color, instead of deep red. The plumage 

 of both species was much used in Hawaii in times past in the manufacture of 

 the native kahilis that are elsewhere described. The birds were also used as food 

 by the natives. 



Petrels .\nd Siie.\rw.\ters. 



The Hawaiian petrel,' Xewell's shearwater," and the Hawaiian stormy 

 petrel' are all small or medium-sized, dark-colored sea-birds with hooked bills; 

 they nest in holes in the mountains. Although they and their habits were 

 well known to the Ilawaiians, who Avere expert naturalists, they have con- 

 tinned to be very rare specimens in collections, owing to their niglit-flying 

 ha hits and the almost inaccessible places in which they nest. Thc^y wei-e a 



