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The shark-god was another "Akua," which, together with the Owl, was held in 

 great reverence by the ancient Hawaiians, and even now the natives will sometimes 

 tell you their " Akua " or " protecting spirit " is the Mano (shark). 



I did not succeed in obtaining the eggs, but while on the island of Lanai in 1888, 

 my young companion, Mr. Frederick Bickerton, found two half-fledged birds and took 

 one alive to Honolulu with him, where it lived for some time in confinement. On the 

 "Waimea plains in Hawaii one often sees these Owls wheeling about in the daytime in 

 search of mice, and on the waste land round the great extinct crater, Diamond Head, 

 near Honolulu, they are also very common, while they are generally distributed 

 over the islands of the whole group. One point more must be noticed with 

 regard to them, and that is the presence of a large black parasite, about the size of 

 a small blue-bottle fly, which swarms among the feathers. I noticed this particularly 

 in the case of a specimen shot in Kona, and my friend Mr. F. Burchardt, who is well 

 acquainted with these birds in Kohala, assures me they are seldom free from them. I 

 secured specimens at the time, but unfortunately the glass tube in which they were 

 preserved has been lost. 



