«2 HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



trunks, maintaining themselves in this awkward position by means 

 of their claws and their outstretched wings, and deliberately seized 

 a young one and bore it off, repeating their predatory visits sev- 

 eral times and in successive years. 



Yet notwithstanding the fact that io sometimes destroys birds 

 and may even occasionally seize a chicken, it is nevertheless appar- 

 ent that the chief food of io, and, when he can get them, the only 

 food, are mice and rats. When these are not to be had io contents 

 himself with what he can find, among other things the larvae of 

 the Sphinx moth and spiders. I have found the crops and stom- 

 achs of a number of individuals absolutely crammed with spiders. 

 Large spiders of an introduced species (Argiope avara) have in- 

 creased rapidly within the last few years, and it is but recently, 

 apparently, that io has learned their value as food. The feathers 

 of the legs and thighs of several hawks I have examined have been 

 completely gummed up with a viscid secretion from the spiders 

 and with the silken webs. 



In view of the above facts it is a little difficult to understand 

 the statements of some of the early explorers like Peale regarding 

 this hawk, to the effect that "small birds constitute its principal 

 food." The. bird is large and sluggish and, though powerful of 

 wing, possesses none of the rapidity of movemept and alertness 

 •common to all bird^catching falcons. Io knows his business far 

 loo well to waste his tiihe and strength in the vain pursuit of birds. 

 When hungry he sits motionless upon the low limbs of trees 

 ■watching for small rats, mice and Qther creeping things which 

 lie can pounce upon unawares. 



Io shuns the dense forest — where alone most of the Hawaiian 

 "birds dwell — and lives upon its edges, especially where he has 

 access to large cleared areas like cane and coffee fields. Both 

 these are favorite hunting grounds, and he does excellent service 

 in ridding the land of the above rodents which, as is well known, 

 destroy both cane and coffee, to say nothing of corn and other 

 farm products. Upon the whole Hawaii has no bird more im- 

 portant economically than this hawk, no bird perhaps which t}ie 

 agriculturalist cannot better spare. While there is yet time to 



