Azotes 0)1 the Birds of Kauai. 131 



mandible in the male. The feet are white, with a yellowish cast 

 in the female, and white with an orange yellow tint in the male. 



Nycticorax nycticorax nsevius (Bodd.). Black-crowned 

 Night Heron. Auku kohili. 



One immature female (Mus. No. 9433) was taken from flocks 

 near Waimea, where it was abundant in the low lands. 



Gallinula sandvicensis Streets. Hawaiian Gallinule. 



Alae. 



While collecting in the swamps about Waimea on May 4 this, 

 species was noted as especially abundant. 



Fulica alai Peale. Hawaiian Coot. Alae keokeo. 



A female (Mus. No. 9432) was taken in the ponds near Mr. 

 Knudsen's home. The freshly killed bird has a cherry-red eye; 

 the frontal .shield is white with a light blui.sh tip to the upper man- 

 dible; the feet are a bluish green. A number of nests of the white- 

 shielded coot were seen among the rushes looking very much like 

 a small platform of grasses with a slight hollow in the centre for 

 the eggs. Usually, though not always, the grass was bent down 

 over the nest so that it was partly concealed. The nests were in 

 colonies of six or eight. One set of six eggs was taken. The nest 

 was among the rushes about twenty feet back from the open water; 

 the rushes were in water fourteen to eighteen inches deep. 



Himantopus knudseni Stejn. Hawaiian Stilt. 



Kukuluaeo. 



The eggs, nestlings, a half-grown bird and four adults were 

 taken on May 4. The ponds near Mr. Knudsen's house cover an 

 area of several acres, and at this time of year are so shallow that 

 one can wade anywhere in them. Indeed rushes occupy a large 

 part of them. From the great excitement our approach caused it 

 was plain that the birds were nesting. The stilts were wading 

 about in the water or running about on the land. There were 

 hundreds of these birds in sight. They uttered a sharp, rather 

 harsh cry almo.st incessantly when on the wing. A nest was soon 

 found which proved to be an old one with one bad egg in it. Shortly 

 after Mr. Knudsen found a nest containing two eggs and two re- 

 cently hatched young. The nest is usually little more than a slight 

 depression in the ground — often an old cow track — with a few 

 broken bits of coarse weeds scratched into it. The nest taken was 

 among some weeds about fifty yards from the water. The old birds 

 were quite fearless. Approaching to within a few feet of us, they 

 would affect all sorts of ailments to decoy us from the nest. A favor- 

 ite method of decoying was to lay flat on the ground with their 

 wings spread out. They would often affect the broken wing trick 



