320 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



Australia and Chiua and on various Pacific islands. Like its neighbors, it is 

 quite fearless and is always busy. They (ifteii break into a sweet, strong, 

 melodious warble, that seems quite out of place on a low. hot sand island ; the 

 song being entirely out of proportion to the size of the bird. 



The remaining species peculiar to the island is the Laysan honey-eater. 

 It is an island form of the apapani, a related species that is common in the 

 forests of the higher islands of the group. It is a small bird, red in color, that 

 so clearly resembles its better known relative as not to require description 

 here. While not so abundant as the other species .just mentioned, their bright 

 scarlet iilumage renders them more conspicuous. Like their cousins, they are 

 especially fond of the nectar of tiowers, and their long, slender, curved bills 

 and tube-like tongues make it an easy matter for them to drink the sweet fluid 

 from the blossoms of the Portulaca that grows abundantly about the edge of 

 the lagoon. They are also fond of insects and make many a meal from the 

 large grey millers on the island. They are most regular in their habits, return- 

 ing hour after hour and day after daj' to the same bush or flower to search 

 for food. 



A niunber of years ago the Laysan rail was liberated on ]\Iidway Island, 

 where it has established itself in a thriving colony. The Laysan canary has 

 also been introduced on Midway and has found conditions there entirely suit- 

 able to its habits. In 1909 Mr. D. Morrison purchased a pair of the common 

 yellow canaries _-•* in Honolulu and soon after liberated their young on Midway. 

 They have increased in numbers imtil it was estimated that there were more 

 than a thousand birds on the island by the end of the nesting season of 1914. 

 They are sweet songsters, and although not quite so friendly as the Laysan 

 finch, they will feed with a person standing within a yard of them. The 

 future of this colony will be followed with much interest by those who are 

 interested in the introduction and naturalization of song and game birds, since 

 it furnishes an excellent example of a species returning to its natural wild 

 habits after centuries of confinement and artificial breeding and feeding. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 BIRDS OF THE MARSH, STREAM AND SHORE. 



More than half of the complete list of birds recorded as occurring in the 

 Hawaiian group are shore and w-ater birds. This part of the fauna iiicludes 

 resident species, regular winter migrants, and a considerable list of occa- 

 sional or accidental visitors. As those species that are met with in Hawaii 

 only at irregular intervals are seldom seen and cannot be expected to cdii- 

 tribute much to the numerical strength of the meager bird population, tlie 

 present chapter deals only with the more common forms. 



We have observed in an earlier chapter that the city as well as the 



