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FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 28, 1908 
How it Rains in Honolulu. 
Honolulu, Hawaii, Nov. 9. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The most perplexing thing about 
Hawaii’s climate to the new arrival is the mat¬ 
ter of rainfall. You begin to experience this 
perplexity before you have set foot on the deck 
at Honolulu, when you consult anxiously with 
your fellow travelers as to the advisability of 
digging out an umbrella or rain proof before 
you go ashore. The chances are that you are 
all convinced that the heavy veil of black clouds 
which shuts out portions of the mountain scenery 
from view, and the few drops of rain which the 
fresh shore breeze dashes in your face like flash¬ 
ing jewels torn from that bit of rainbow, are 
warnings too plain to be ignored, and you pre¬ 
pare accordingly for the downpour which seems 
imminent. 
You observe with some surprise that none of 
the wearers of the dainty costumes you pass on 
the street appear to be in the least perturbed 
by the possibility of getting caught in that im¬ 
pending shower, until after a while it dawns on 
you that the storm keeps right on impending— 
and nothing more. As you ride in a street car 
along the flashing sea beach, vivid with color 
of breaking surf, and of flowers in trees and 
hedges along the way, the sunshine never ap¬ 
peared so brilliant. But off to the left in a 
beautiful little valley, tucked like a deep pocket 
in the mountains, and seemingly scarcely half 
a mile away, there can be no doubt of the fact 
that a good heavy rain is falling. The sun light 
striking through the falling drops fills the valley 
with a glory of broken up rainbows—a riot of 
color that causes one to gasp and exclaim in 
admiration. There can be no doubt that the 
rain we have seen falling is real, and that it 
is as near as it seems, for the wind now and 
then carries refreshing dashes of it into the 
open car. 
Five minutes later we leave the car at the 
foot of a great jagged pile of volcanic rock that 
marks the vent of a prehistoric volcano, and 
the red base and sides which support a stunted, 
mesquite-like growth, and a few cacti, look as 
though they had not had a good shower for six 
months. And they probably have not. 
In time one learns that Hawaii’s climate is 
purely a matter of locality. That the report of 
the rainfall for any given time, published by the 
United States Weather Bureau, does not mean 
for every place in the Territory, nor for the 
island of Oahu, nor even for the city of Hono¬ 
lulu, but only for the piaffe where the rain gauge 
stands on top of the Alexander Young Hotel 
building, in which the Weather Bureau office 
is located. It would not be true for a place 
half or three-quarters of a mile away. One 
learns that he may live in Honolulu under very 
different conditions as to precipitation, accord¬ 
ing to location. In some of the valleys rain falls 
practically every day of the year, and varies in 
amount in different parts of the same valley 
which may be only a mile or two long. There 
are other sections in which the splendid lawns 
and bowers of green foliage, which surround 
beautiful homes, are only possible through 
constant irrigation. And there are to be found 
almost every degree of moisture between these 
extremes. 
Like everywhere else one finds people of every 
turn of mind in Honolulu as to the most desir¬ 
able places in which to live. In sections where 
the rainfall may amount to two or three hun¬ 
dred inches per year, vegetation flourishes most 
luxuriantly and with a minimum of attention. 
There is also an absence of humid feeling in 
the atmosphere, or disagreeable dampness which 
one usually associates with much rainfall. This 
is accounted for by the fact that the rain comes 
in showers, of which a dozen or more may 
come in a day, and many occur while the sun , 
is shining brightly, while the never-failing trade 
winds and a porous soil dry up the surface 
moisture within a few minutes after a shower 
has passed. The heaviest precipitation also 
usually occurs at night. 
In the dry sections, if one has plenty of water 
with which to irrigate (and Honolulu has a 
splendid system of waterworks with ample sup¬ 
ply), one may more easily control what he would 
COLORADO DOVE’S NEST. 
From a photograph by F. T. Webber. 
grow, and at the same time escape the incon¬ 
venience of oft occurring showers. Some of 
Honolulu’s most beautiful residence district, as 
well as the beautiful Kapiolani Park, one of the 
most beautiful tropical gardens in the world, 
was originally barren sand plains, practically de¬ 
void of vegetation, and once thought to be 
worthless. The new comer is often puzzled to 
hear an old resident refer to “The Plains” when 
speaking of a section of the city in which are 
located some of the most magnificent homes and 
beautiful grounds in the whole Territory. 
What is thus true of Honolulu' applies to all 
the rest of the Territory. Generally speaking, the 
northeast and east sides of the different islands 
get the most rainfall. The reason for this is 
that the almost constant trade wind, blowing 
from the northeast and ladened with moisture 
from the ocean, is chilled as it is pushed up the 
slopes of the mountains to a height of from one 
to fourteen thousand feet, and the water con¬ 
densed into clouds and rain, even falling in the 
higher elevations in the form of snow. After 
passing the mountains the wind is dry, and ex¬ 
cept at irregular intervals during the winter 
months when the “Kona” or southwest wind 
blows, these parts of the islands get but little 
moisture. 
The variation of rainfall, together with the 
difference in temperature due to elevation, give 
to Hawaii a diversity of climate that can scarcely 
be equalled in the world, lacking only in ex¬ 
tremes of either heat or cold. Will J. Cooper. 
Weasels. 
Newburyport, Mass., Nov. 20. — Editor Fori 
and Stream: An interesting incident in w 
life recently came under my observation. ( 
Nov. 14, while walking along a road, I espi 
a weasel in an old stone wall, working his w 
leisurely along it, going through from one si 
to the other of it in much the way a chipmu 
does. He was a little fellow, who had not 
yet completely donned his winter coat of whi 
He was in that half way stage between the B 
and presented rather a piebald appearance. 
Having read that weasels are attracted by t 
squeaking of mice, I imitated one as best I cor 
and at once caught his attention. He was on t 
qui vive immediately and commenced an inves 
gation of every hole and leaf-filled crevice 
the wall for a distance of a few feet. At fi 
quent intervals I squeaked, and after a time, 
finding nothing in the wall and seeming bett 
to get the direction from whence the sou 
came, he left and came out into the grass a 
brush along the roadside. No doubt there we 
genuine mouse runs in the grass here, for 
worked back and forth in this for seve) 
minutes. 
A chickadee from a flock in the vicin 
seemed in some way curiously attracted by 1 
actions in the grass and hovered around for 
while, once alighting on a stick some twelve 
eighteen inches from the weasel. I rather e 
pected to see the weasel make some move 
capture the bird, but it did not. The actions 
the bird struck me as peculiar; seemingly it w 
pure curiosity that attracted it. I can eas i 
see how, under similar conditions, birds mig 
fall victims to these blood-thirsty little fellov 
After a little the chickadee flew away, 1 
curiosity perhaps satisfied, but the weasel cc 
tinued his bootless search for a few minui 
longer, until sure there was nothing there in t 
way of a meal, or else perhaps suspecting 1 
crude squeaking, he continued his way along t 
wall. I was not a little amused at the occi: 
rence to see how easily he was befooled, and 
the action of the bird also. It added a little 
my small stock of observations on the hab 
of our wild neighbors. 
Several years ago, early one May, when 1 
building an old stone wall, I found a nest 
the weasels containing four youngsters. Th 
could not have been many days old, for th> 
eyes were not open and they were naked, exce 
for a small tuft of fine hair or fur on the t 
of their heads, for all the world ludicrously li 
a pompadour it seemed to me. The nest its* 
was made of dead grass, chiefly with a ft 
tufts here and there in it of mouse fur, the i 
terior lining having quite a little of this, t 
remainder probably of mice they had captur 
and eaten. Besides the young weasels the 
were in the nest two or three meadow mice 
a partially eaten state, together with a song spj 
row and yellow warbler. Surely their larc 
was pretty well supplied. The nest and all woil 
have nearly filled a peck measure. 
I called a neighbor to see them and he to* 
them home in his hat to show to his folks. 
being a poultry raiser, I have no doubt as J 
their fate shortly after. The old ones he stl 
ceeded in getting a shot at a day or two latl 
as they stayed around in the vicinity of t| 
nest. S. W. Bailey j. 
