NEWSLETTER OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN BIOLOGICAL SURVEY PROGRAM , SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. WASHINGTON. D.C. 
FEBRUARY 1967 NO.6 
NEWELL’S SHEARWATER... A RARE BIRD 
Newell’s Shearwater is a 
fairly small, black and white 
seabird which was believed to be 
extinct until about 15 years ago. 
It is known to breed only in the 
main Hawaiian Islands. In the last 
century before its population 
declined, the Hawaiian natives knew 
the bird well. They called it "Ao” 
which describes quite well the 
eerie wails it makes as it sails in 
search of its nest site in the dark. 
The young Aos were sought after as 
a prized meal, fit for a king. In 
fact, Ao flesh was kapu, forbidden, 
to the common folk. 
Even in the old days in Hawaii 
when Aos were plentiful, it took 
determination and sometimes bravery 
to find them. They prefer to nest 
on the faces of precipitous cliffs 
where they burrow into the earth to 
construct a tunnel which may be 
several feet long. At the end of 
the tunnel they lay their one egg 
and the young are hatched and grow 
up in near darkness and total 
privacy. The Hawaiians found that 
a long branched stick would catch 
in the downy feathers of youqg hMs 
and in this manner they could be 
extracted from their burrows. 
Toward the end of the nine- 
teenth century the mongoose was in- 
troduced to the Hawaiian Islands at 
the insistence of the sugar cane 
growers in the hope of controlling 
rats. The mongoose has a broad 
appetite, however, and ground- 
nesting birds undoubtedly form a 
large part of its diet. It is more 
than just coincidence that Kauai, 
the only main island on which the 
mongoose was not introduced, now is 
the only remaining stronghold of 
the Newell's Shearwater, and for 
50 years no records of its occur- 
rence were made public . 
Due to the efforts of the 
Hawaii Fish and Game Service and 
the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey 
Program, the Newell’s Shearwater is 
once more well known. The birds 
have received publicity in Hawaii's 
newspapers because of their curious 
habit of "falling" out of the sky 
at night from May to October in 
areas _ which are strongly lighted. 
Actually, the birds are attracted 
to the lights only on cloudy or 
moonless nights when they have dif- 
ficulty finding their way into the 
mountains to their nest sites. 
Evidently the lights disorient them 
