KAWAIIAN BIRDS. 131 



the small native species feeding in the same trees with mynahs, 

 neither paying the slightest attention to the other. Nor has dil- 

 igent inquiry among the natives and settlers revealed anyone else 

 who has seen the mynah exhibit signs of hostility towards the 

 native birds. 



If any of the native birds nested in the cavities of trees, there is 

 not the slightest doubt that they would be dispossessed by the 

 mynah. Or if there was a conflict over food, the native birds 

 would soon be driven to the wall by the larger and fiercer mynah. 

 The food habits of the mynah seem, however, to conflict very lit- 

 tle, if any, with the native species. 



Even a species which is in the main beneficial may increase to 

 such an extent as to be a nuisance, and such seems likely to be the 

 case with the mynah. Its numbers, even at present, are startling, 

 and there seems to be no limit to the possibilities of its increase. 

 Any altitude, high or low, is suited to its tastes. It is true that 

 the bird shuns the denser forest, but m tracts where the under- 

 growth has been somewhat thinned by cattle it is entirely at 

 home, no matter how far from civilization. 



It is distinctly possible that it is to the immense numbers of 

 the mynah, which sometimes seem to fill the forest trees with 

 their flocks, and to their harsh noises, rather to any direct hostil- 

 ity or injury by them, that is due the antipathy of native birds, 

 if such they have. So far as my own observations go I am bound 

 to state, as above, that I have never noted such antipathy. Per- 

 haps the native birds passively endure the hated presence of the 

 noisy strangers till they finally abandon a locality in sheer dis- 

 gust. 



All theories aside, the important fact is that the mynah was 

 introduced into the Hawaiian Islands, unadvisedly as most think, 

 that the bird has increased to an amazing extent and is still in- 

 creasing without sign of abatement. I have endeavored to take 

 as optimistic a view of its presence in the Islands as possible, for, 

 apparently, the bird is here to stay. For the mynah is a wary 

 bird, and, neither the gun, traps or poison are likely ever to have 

 any serious effect upon its numbers. The further increase of the 



