100 EAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



its white (faintly tinged with bluish) bill. The bird formerly 

 figured prominently in Hawaiian folk-lore. 



The alae is found upon all the islands and frequents shallow 

 fresh water ponds, where there is an abundance of coarse reeds 

 and sedges to serve for its own protection and to conceal its nest. 

 When disturbed the birds instantly swim into the reedy recesses 

 from which they can be dislodged only with the greatest difficulty. 

 The nests are the same bulky piles of reeds and grasses character- 

 istic of the coot everywhere. They are placed on the water, and 

 are kept from floating away by the surrounding reeds. The birds 

 begin to nest as early as the month of February and I have seen 

 half-grown young freely swimming about in company with their 

 parents April 30. Nesting thus early, the alae probably would 

 be through with their domestic duties by mid-summer were it not 

 for the fact that the natives freely plunder the nests for the eggs, 

 which are excellent eating. In some localities it is only with great 

 difficulty that the birds raise any young at all. 



The only nest I ever saw, with anything in it, was found Aug- 

 ust 17 and contained two fresh eggs, but I do not doubt that these 

 Virere a second, perhaps even a third, laying. I have no means at 

 hand of direct comparison, but I should judge it to be impossible 

 to distinguish the eggs of the alae from those of the American 

 species. The ground color is of a delicate creamy brown of the 

 exact shade known as cafe au lait, numerously sprinkled with dots 

 and roundish blotches of clove brown and purplish. They meas- 

 ure: 188x130 and 144x125. The alae keokeo had achieved a 

 rather conspicuous position in Hia-waiian mythology, and had even 

 risen to the dignity of a place in the Hawaiian pantheon, a fact 

 which of itself indicates a residence in the islands of respectable 

 antiquity. 



Description. — Adult. Dark slate, paler below and much darker on 

 head and neck; edge of wing, tip of secondaries and crissum white; legs 

 and feet greenish gray; frontal knob delicate creamy whiter bill faint 

 bluish white. Length about 14 inches, 



GaUinula galeata sandvicensis' (Streets.). Alae ula. Hawaiian 

 Gallinule. 



The prominent place in Hawaiian mythology occupied by this 



