L , 



district of Kona on Hawaii, where it ranges from 1100 to 6000 feet and probably 

 higher. As Peale observes, in his excellent account, " They frequent the woody district 

 of the interior, seldom, if ever, visiting the coast." 



In the ohia forests, a few miles above Kaawaloa (celebrated as being the spot where 

 Captain Cook fell), I found this bird numerous in the month of June, by which time 

 the brood had already left the nest. A friend, extremely clever at imitating sounds, 

 was able, by carefully concealing himself and then mimicking the cry of the young 

 Alala, to collect round him in a short time many of the old birds ; he had found a 

 nest at the end of April, which he informed me was a large loosely-fashioned structure 

 of dead sticks, resembling that of a Pigeon, placed in a Pandanus. The Alala seems 

 to feed principally on the fruit of the Ieie {Freycinetia arborea), but no doubt, when 

 occasion serves, takes the young of the various forest birds. Peale remarks in this 

 connection : — " We noticed that the smaller species of birds were kept in great terror 

 by the presence of the Alala ; from this we infer that, like other crows, they will rob 

 nests of their eggs, and when an opportunity offers eat the old birds also : such was 

 their character given to us by the natives." 



I was assured by the islanders that they collect in large numbers and feed on the 

 sheep occasionally found dead from natural causes or killed by wild dogs, which animals 

 are said only to suck the blood, leaving the carcass otherwise intact. 



The Alala is a noisy species, and Peale remarks that " its voice closely resembles 

 that of the North-American Fish-Crow, C. ossifragus." It is far from wild ; and I 

 secured a specimen by a shot from my 28-bore when on the back of a steady-going 

 mule, as we were riding through the forests. It seems to be restricted to two districts 

 of Hawaii — Kona and Kau ; personally I only observed it in the former, but was 

 assured, on the authority of a friend who resided in Kau, of its presence there as well. 

 At Puuanahulu — a veritable oasis surrounded by lava-flows — I shot several examples ; 

 but this spot, though many miles distant from Kaawaloa, is still in the district of Kona. 



Description. — Adult male. Entire plumage dusky brown, almost black on the head and 

 neck, somewhat lighter on the tail and wings, the quills of the latter being of a rusty 

 brown, with the shafts of the feathers white. Irides dark hazel ; bill bluish black, 

 lighter at the tip ; nostrils covered with glossy black bristle-like feathers ; feet black, 

 yellowish underneath. 



Dimensions. — Adult male. Total length 19 inches, wing from carpal joint 13-50, 

 culmen 2-50, tarsus 2-50, tail 8-50. 



The total length of an adult female is 17*25 inches, while the other parts are 

 proportionately smaller than in the male. In plumage the sexes do not differ. 



Immature specimens have the whole plumage of a more rusty shade, and the 

 primaries light ochreous. 



