

Dr. Stejneger (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 85) remarks :— " The four specimens 

 of Short-eared Owls from the Hawaiian Islands before me do not justify the retention 

 of Asio sandwichensis as a separable race ;" while the late Mr. J. H. Gurney, who 

 examined a specimen in my collection, was of the same opinion. Dr. Stejneger also 

 suggests that Owls on the Hawaiian Islands are in part migratory, but I do not think 

 they are so. 



The subject of this article was held in great awe by the ancient Sandwich Islanders, 

 as it was believed by them to be an " Akua " or Spirit ; and to this day it is considered 

 that death will be the fate in the course of the same year of any one who is rash enough 

 to kill a Pueo. It was a bird held sacred to the gods, and therefore the natives 

 believed that if one were killed, not only would its slayer die within the year, but some 

 great calamity would fall on the nation. In a most interesting legend entitled " The 

 Sacred Spear-point" ('Legends and Myths of Hawaii,' pp. 219-225), the Pueo plays 

 a prominent part ; but in this story an evil spirit seems to have taken its form and to 

 have for many years visited different districts of Oahu, killing children, pigs, and fowls ; 

 the priests, moreover, declared it to be a Pueo, sacred to the gods, and therefore not 

 to be molested with safety, even if harm were possible from human hands. 



The following abbreviation of the latter part of the legend may be of interest to my 

 readers: — 



At last a prince bearing the name of Kaulalaau, who suspected it was an evil spirit, 

 followed the bird and was by supernatural agency impelled to hurl his javelin in its 

 direction. In twenty paces the point did not droop; in forty it did not fall to the 

 ground ; in a hundred a new energy seized it, and like a flash of light it sped out of 

 sight. A moment later the prince saw the bird sink and disappear down a precipice. 

 He and his companion hastened to the base, where they found it dead with the 

 javelin buried in its breast. They carried it to the temple, but the high priest 

 declared that they should be sacrificed to the gods to avert their wrath. An appeal 

 was made to the king, and on the bird being examined in the presence of the Court, 

 it was found that its head was not that of a Pueo ; nor did it bear a resemblance in 

 form to that of any bird known. It was narrow between the eyes, which in colour 

 were like those of a shark, and its long pointed mandibles, both of the upper and 

 under jaws, turned sharply upward. The priests were severely reprimanded by the 

 king for their mistake, and the prince — the slayer of the monster — was asked to 

 explain what he knew about it. To this appeal he replied : " If I may rely upon what 

 seemed to be a dream last night, the bird was possessed by the spirit of Hilo-a-Lakapu, 

 one of the chiefs of Hawaii who invaded Oahu during the reign of your royal father. 

 He was slain at Waimano, and his head was placed upon a pole near Honouliuli for 

 the birds to feed upon. He was of " Akua " blood, and through a bird-god relative his 

 spirit was given possession of the monster which the gods enabled me to slay." The 

 spirit of Hilo had come in with the head of the dead bird, and with the utterance of 

 these words by the prince the eyes rolled, the ponderous jaws opened and closed, and 

 with a noise like the scream of an " Alae " the malignant spirit took its departure. 



