Some Birds of Molokat. 
n 
/ 
immature. The fully adult male at this season is usually accom- 
panied by the female and from two to four parti-colored immature 
birds of both sexes. Occasionally young birds that have assumed 
more than three-fourths of the red plumage of the adult will be 
found in such companies. On the other hand one is rather more 
apt to find pairs mated and settled before the male has assumed 
one-third of the conspicuous red plumage to which he is heir. 
In habits the Kakawahia resembles the species of the genus 
to which it belongs, and from which it differs in color so widely. 
They prefer to feed over the trunks and branches of the trees. 
Here they secure the insects that make up almost the whole of 
their diet. However, they will be seen in the tops of the tallest 
trees, but apparently paying little or no attention to their flowers. 
In short, they are persistent and sturdy entomologists, always 
active and alert, but strange to say, they seldom, if ever, take in- 
sects on the wing. At intervals moths are taken of such size they 
are compelled to hold them under their feet and pull them to pieces 
so as to devour them piecemeal, much after the fashion of the com- 
mon chickadee. 
When they have once settled on a home in the forest they at 
once set about to establish their sphere of influence, over which 
they rule, so far as possible, to the exclusion of every trespasser. 
On the approach of some intruder, as a man ora dog, they will 
both set up a scolding ‘‘Chirk, chirk’’, that is no uncertain sound 
to one familiar with birds’ voices and ways. If the alarm chirk is 
continued long enough, the nearest neighbors are rarely so far 
away that they will not come in to satisfy their natural curiosity 
and add the weight of their presence and voice to the protest. 
The Kakawahia, like his cousins, is full of curiosity. The 
sound of one making one’s way through the woods is sure to at- 
tract the little resident to the scene, when uttering their never- 
varied ‘‘chirk’’, they will come close enough to the person to take 
in every detail of his makeup in wide-eyed inquisitiveness. Once 
satisfied that their show of authority has no intimidating effect, 
they will resume their feeding close to the observer. One can thus 
study their movements at close range. I have often watched them 
under the most favorable circumstances, for an hour or more at a 
time, but have never seen them paying the slightest attention to 
the nectar-bearing flowers about them. Occasionally they go down 
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