328 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



the oft-defeated fisherman leaped from his hiding place and, seizing one of the 

 birds, threatened to kill it for hiding the secret of the fire from them. The 

 bird very ably argued that if it should be killed the secret of the art of 

 making fire would die with it. At last, just in time to save his neck and after 

 considerable parley and repeated attempts at evasion, the bird finally divulged 

 the ancient art of making fire by rubbing one dry stick on another. So exas- 

 perated had the son of Maui become before he succeeded in producing fire, for 

 he was told to rub together first one thing and then another, that at last he 

 rubbed the top of the bird's head until it was red with blood, and the red spot 

 has remained thereon to this day. 



The Hawaiian Duck. 



Although both the gallinule and the coot were eaten by the Hawaiiaus, 

 they were not so highly esteemed as was the Hawaiian duck,io ^ small species 

 that formerly was plentiful in the streams and marshes on all the large islands. 

 Of recent years they have become very rare except on the Island of Kauai. It 

 is thought that the mongoose, together with the sportsman, have brought 

 about this unfortunate state of afliairs, since this species is peculiar to these 

 islands. As a matter of fact, such foreign ducks as the shoveler," with its 

 spade-like bill, and the pintail,^- with its sharp-pointed tail, and other less 

 common species that visit the islands each winter, coming down from the 

 northwest coast, are now much more liable to be shot in the group, during the 

 open season, than is the native Hawaiian species. As with the shore birds, 

 there are other species of ducks, and occasionally even geese, that from time to 

 time wander from Alaska on their migrations; but their occurrence is scarcely 

 ever observed by other than the professional sportsman. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

 BIRDS OF THE MOUNTAIN FORESTS. 



With the shore, the marsh and the ocean birds considered in other chap- 

 ters, we come now to the peculiar and therefore more interesting part of the 

 Hawaiian bird fauna, namely, that which is at home in the mountain forests. 

 The exploration of these almost impenetrable, dense, moist, often cloud-swept 

 jungle-like forests is by no means an easy task; but in order to see the 

 Hawaiian birds outside of a museum collection, it is necessary to explore them, 

 since it is there alone that the curious forms of bird life for which Hawaii is 

 noted are found. 



Unfortunately, many of the more interesting forms are either extinct or 

 so rare that they are no longer to be seen alive. Of the forms that still exist, 

 a few species are sufficiently abundant and conspicuous in song and color to give 

 an interesting touch of life to the forest that adds not a little to tlie pleasure of 

 a holiday spent in the mountains. 



^'^ A7\as wyvilliana, ^^ Spatula cli/fteata. ^'- Dafnla acuta. 



