324 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



men? Had not this bird, without a chart or compass, started from a given 

 point in the very middle of the Pacific Ocean, and made a cruise extending 

 over several months, and at least 6000 miles of trackless water, returned again, 

 arriving by night at the very point of starting? Certainlj^ old "Stump-leg" 

 was an able seaman and a master navigator. 



But this remarkable record does not stop with the report of the single 

 trip. The log-book records that, for five years, each fall this bird returned to 

 Laysan, arriving each year at almost the same date and departing in the 

 spring with equal punctuality for parts unknown. But, at last, "Stump-leg" 

 failed to return. Whether he was killed by hunters in Alaska or gave out on 

 the weary and dangerous journey, or lost his bearing and went down strug- 

 gling against fate, or died a natural death, will never be known ; but certain 

 it is that his voyage to and from Laysan Island and the records made of them 

 constitute a most interesting and valuable incident, throwing much light on 

 the unerring accuracy of the mysterious instinct which, doubtless through hun- 

 dreds and perhaps thousands of generations has served to guide our feathered 

 friends in their migrations to and from Hawaii. 



It recjuires but a few weeks in the islands before the plover are all in 

 good condition, and long before they leave for the north the following spring 

 they are plump and heavy with fat. When in that condition everyone knows 

 that the plover is a toothsome morsel. In the old days it was much prized as 

 food by the natives of Hawaii, who exhibited great skill in the capture of the 

 wild birds. So skillful were they in imitating the plover's peculiar whistle 

 that the.v were often able to hire the birds close enough to the hunter to 

 enable him to pelt them witli stones. Another less sportsmanlike method was 

 to bait a fish line with a tempting worm. The bait was placed along the beach 

 at a promising spot and the birds called to pai'take of it. 



It was customary to cook the kolea (plover) and, indeed, any of the game 

 birds, by filling the body cavity with a smooth hot stone, that was especially 

 suited to the purpose. The bird, stone and all, was then wrapped up in a 

 neat package of ti leaves and sufficient time allowed for the heat from the 

 stone to accomplish the desired result. 



The Turnstone, S.vnderling, Tattler .\nd Curlew. 



Like the foregoing species, the turnstone,- the sanderling ■'• and the tattler-* 

 arrive in Hawaii late in August or September and leave the following April 

 by thousands. However, there are usually a few individuals of each species 

 that fail to leave for the north. An examination of the summer birds proves 

 them to l)c birds that are young and barren or too weak to undertake the long 

 flight. 



Of tho remainder of Hawaii's migratory wading l)irtls it is only necessary 

 here to mention the bristle-thighed curlew,'' as such other species as occasion- 

 allv occur are rarelv if ever seen bv the ordinary observer. 



