HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 101 



birH sufficiently attests the fact that it has been long a resident 

 of the islands. The alae ula is the bird that first stole fire from 

 the gods and gave it to the natives and, even to this day, it bears 

 upon its forehead the crimson frontal knob where the feathers were 

 burned away by the sacred fire. 



The bird has overspread the islands and is found in the same 

 places as the coot. Unlike the latter bird, its nest is not placed 

 over the water where it is inacessible to the thieving mongoose. 

 The consequence is that in many localities upon the island of 

 Hawaii, as for instance, about Hilo, where formerly the gallinule 

 abounded, it is no longer known. 



Dr. Stejneger has examined the claims of this bird to specific 

 rank with his usual acumen, and sums up the matter as follows : 

 "It seems, therefore, that there are no characters upon which to 

 base a specific separation, and were it not that the difference in re- 

 gard to the color of the tarsus may hold good in the majority of 

 specimens, I should be disinclined to regard the Hawaiian bird as 

 even subspecifically distinct." I am not in position to add any- 

 thing to Dr. Stejneger's remarks further than to say that the 

 single specimen of this bird I have been able to obtain near Hilo 

 had no trace of red upon the tarsus and, so far as I am able to see 

 without direct comparison with American specimens, is indistin- 

 guishable from, ordinarv American examples. 



Description. — ^Adult. Head, neck and under parts grayish black, darker 

 on head and whitening on belly; back brownish olive; wings and tail 

 dusky; crissum, edge of wing and flanks white; bill, frontal plate and 

 tibiae anteriorly (usually) red; tarsus and toes greenish. Length 12-15 

 inches. 



ARDEID^. HERON FAMILY. 



Ardea sacra, Gmelin. Aukuu. 



According to Rothschild this heron has been ascribed to the 

 Hawaiian Islands by G. R. Gray, but without citation of authority. 

 Dole also gives it as an inhabitant of the group (Proc. Bost. Soc. 

 Nat. Hist. 1869, p. 303) but his statement that it is "common all 

 over the group" is assuredly a mistake, and tends to throw some 

 doubt upon the accuracy of his knowledge respecting the species. 



