88 HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



islands every year in company with flocks of their relatives next 

 mentioned. 



Description. — Adult. Above blackish, variegated with white and yel- 

 lowish; rump white with dark barring; below white, more or less shaded 

 with grey; throat and breast with dusky spots. In summer under parts 

 black; above variegated with black and white; tail barred with same; 

 .0 small hind foe. Length about 12 inches. 



Charadrius ddminicus fulvus, (Gmelin.). Kolea; Pacific Golden 

 Plover-. 



It must have been in very remote times that the kolea first dis- 

 covered the Hawaiian Islands and established the habit of annual- 

 ly visiting their shores. No sooner have they reared their young 

 in Alaska than they begin their return flight with its attendant 

 dangers and fatigue. Leaving the islands in April and May, the 

 first comers return about the middle of August. On that date of 

 the present year (1900) I shot a mftnber of kolea on the coast near 

 Hilo in company with the akekeke above alluded to and, like the 

 latter, they were all adults and had not yet doffed their nuptial 

 ■dress, although . beginning to moult. My friend,. Mr. W. K. 

 Andrews of Honomu, also reports that about the same time he 

 saw numbers of first arrivals in the cane-fields near Honomu, and 

 all were adults. It would seem, then that, directly the cares of 

 the nesting season are over, the old males, and such of the females 

 :as have reared their young, start upon the return trip, leaving the 

 young birds to be convoyed much later by the bulk of the females 

 and a certain proportion of the males. Such, at least, may be 

 inferred from the above notes, although many more observations 

 will be necessary before all the facts concerning the migration of 

 the kolea can be considered established. 



As was the case with the akekeke, the kolea first to arrive were 

 in excellent condition. In fact most of them were so fat that dif- 

 ficulty was experienced in preserving a speciihen or two. Many 

 observers have noted the fine condition the kolea are in just prior 

 to the spring flight northward, but it seems remarkable that they 

 should be able to make the long' flight they are credited with 

 twice, and in the interim raise their young, and still retain their 



