318 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



itt luT lU'st in an exhausted eondition, without a ninrsel oi food left for tlie 

 expectant young at home. 



During- the calm warm days of summer the sea is frequently so smooth 

 that the lioohy is unable to bring home its usual catch of tlying-fish. At such 

 times the man-o"-\var birds not only resort to cannibalism, but infanticide as 

 well, in order to satifv their demand for food. If by chance the parent liii-d 

 of a nearby nest should liappen to leave its young unguarded, tlie ever-wat 'hful 

 |iirate-l>ii'd, with a swoop of wings and a vicious snap of lieak, will seize the 

 tdmost Uiiked, helpless nestling and mount high in the air, danuling the yomig 

 bird from its beak. When in the bird's judgment the fall will be .sufificient 

 to crush the life out of its prey, the man-o'-war bird, with nnirderous intent, 

 will di-op its neighi)ors' ot'fsiiring to the gi-oiuid. The falliiig lu'stling is 

 closel\- followed in its descent l)y tlie bird, that it may lie first in at its death. 

 If the fall was sufificient to kill the young bird, it is snatched from the ground 

 and gobbled down by the greed>- i)ii-ate-mui'derei'. If the young bird strug- 

 gles, it is again carried into the aii', this time to a greater heiuht than before, 

 and again allowed to fall to the grountl. This performance is often repeated 

 sevei'al times befoi-e the helpless young bird is pi-ououni:'e<l dead, when its 

 body is swallowed by its assassin in a single gulp. 



White Terns. 



There is not space in one brief chapter to describe the intert'sting nesting 

 habits of the beautiful white terns or love birds,-- the colonies of thousands 

 upon thousands of gray-backed,--* noddy and Hawaiian terns; the shear- 

 waters, petrels and boo])ies, all of which occur on other islands of the group, 

 but it seems Tuifair to nature, to Laysan, and to the reader, to fail to mention, 

 even tluuigh it must be in the briefest manner, the species that are found 

 nowhere else in the world. 



The L.\ys.\n Duck. 



The spoi-tsman finds it almost impossible to believe that a distinct species 

 of duck, the Laysan teal,--* could make so small an island its only home, but 

 such is the case. On a recent visit, however, I found this little colony so 

 i-educed iu numbers that the species could easily be exterminated in a single 

 day with dog and gun. This little teal, a close relative of the Hawaiian duck, 

 is perfectly fearless. On one occasion a pair, out of curiosity, swam nj) to 

 the bank of the little lagoon where I was partiall\- concealed, an<l. coming out 

 on the baid<, walked up so close to the camera that it v,-as necessars- to draw back 

 to bi-iug them into focus on the plate. 



The Flic.htless Rau,. 



The great natural curiosity of the island is the little HighUcss rail.--'' Tlu> 

 common belief that they are wingless is an error — growing;' out of the fact that 



--Gilu'm iMa kittlitzi. ^' Kteniu hniata. -'.Iwiis la!ixtn,,-ni.-i.i. ■-■' Pi:,zaiiulii ixilmeri. 



