Vol. XVIII 



igoi 



J Hei<!shaw, Bt'rds o/F't-ey as Ocean Waifs. \()'\ 



were petrels. The hungry hawk seemed able to descry its prey 

 when a long distance off, for it frequently flew out of sight on its 

 predatory excursions but, sooner or later, it always returned to the 

 same perch. 



Though the certain identification of this " brown hawk " is not 

 possible, there can be little doubt that it was the Hawaiian Buteo 

 solitarins. 



This particular individual must have been more expert at catch- 

 ing birds than its fellows usually are in Hawaii, for during the 

 voyage it was seen to return to the ship from at least a dozen suc- 

 cessful bird catching expeditions. Necessity is indeed a sharp 

 spur. Though the lo sometimes catches birds in Hawaii, the 

 occasions are comparatively rare, rats and mice, the larvae of the 

 sphinx moths, and large spiders constituting by far the larger 

 part of its food. 



That the prey of this particular individual consisted of birds 

 there is not the slightest doubt, for the feathers plucked from the 

 body of its victims frequently floated to the deck below. The 

 litter thus made excited the wrath of the mate who more than 

 once suggested shooting the hawk by way of retaliation. Fortu- 

 nately this was not done, and, about the time when the California 

 coast was sighted, lo left the ship flying landwards and was seen 

 no more. Possibly it was shot later by some enterprising col- 

 lector, and may yet figure again in ornithological literature. 



The particular interest of the voluntary (in part at least) voy- 

 age to California of this particular hawk appears when are recalled 

 the facts relating to the specimen described in 1879 by Mr. Ridg- 

 way as Onychotes grnberi. This bird, as Mr. Ridgway himself 

 has shown, is a typical B. solitarius. At first supposed to have 

 been shot near San Francisco, if I remember correctly, the pres- 

 ence of this specimen in a California bird collection was after- 

 wards otherwise accounted for, and the occurrence of the species 

 in California as an accidental visitor was discredited. The facts 

 here recorded, however, considerably increase the probability that 

 the specimen upon which Onychotes gruberi was based actually 

 reached California alive, possibly by the same means as the indi- 

 vidual here mentioned. 



Biiteo solitarius, though sluggish of movement and slow of wing. 



