30 HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



and, as it finds an abundance of berry-bearing shrubs growing far 

 up on the stems of the lofty ohias as v/ell as upon low trees, such 

 as the kopiko, kawau, mamake and others, it rarely or never 

 descends to the ground. 



Though berries are its chief fare the year round, it does not 

 wholly disdain insect food, and I have seen the omao hunting 

 insects over the large limbs of the koa with considerable energy 

 and celerity. Once or twice I have even seen the bird launching 

 out after a flying insect, but in such clumsy fashion as to reveal a 

 woeful want of practice in the business of fly-catching. It does 

 not disdain spiders upoii occasion, and in the stomach of one in- 

 dividual, I found a minute land-shell. In the breedings season I 

 once found in the bill of a male several of the browft caterpillars 

 which infest the koa and ohia trees, which the bird was probably 

 carrying to its young. Nevertheless I wish to reiterate the state- 

 ment that the omao is essentially a berry-eater and that insects 

 form a rare and inconsiderable part of its fare. Of the many birds 

 I have dissected the stomachs of not five per cent have contained 

 insects, and then only in very small proportion. The stomachs of 

 the vast majority have been crammed with berries and with ber- 

 ries only. 



It is a common habit of the omao to alight on a limb length- 

 wise, a custom which, with its erect attitude while perching, 

 strongly indicates thrush affinities. 



All observers have noted the curious habit of the omao of shak- 

 ing its wings as if in an ague fit. The wings are allowed to drop 

 loosely by the sides, and are then shaken with a tremulous motion, 

 precisely as young birds do when begging food from their parents. 

 A succession of these fits always seizes the omao when an in- 

 truder is observed and, if the antic was reserved for such occa- 

 sions only, it might be set down in so shy a recluse as nervous 

 apprehension. But the writer has often observed the omao when 

 himself unnoticed, and has seen the bird indulging in the luxury 

 of a trembling fit all by himself. The habit is common to all the 

 species of the genus, into the origin and meaning of which it is 

 probably useless to. inquire. It is worth remarking that the habit 



