The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-12-17
PARROTS ON MAUI begin OVER AGAIN.
LOOK PRETTY BUT MAY PROVE
UNDESIRABLE.
Foresters Consider Them Menaces.
Grosbeaks viii have to Fight Against
Hawks on Hawaii.

Those who have lamented the lack of
birds of brilliant plumage such as are
usually considered, in all well accredit-
ed story books, as the proper attributes
of the tropics, are likely to find their
desires appeased by a visit to Maui
where, if the birds let loose on the
slopes of Haleakala prosper, there will
soon be a numerous and noisy progeny
of green parrakeets or, parroquets as
they are often more stylishly spelled
which have lately been let loose by
somebody who evidently thought that
they would look pretty flying through
the trees. The parrakeets were observ-
ed by naturalist r, c. L. Perkins so
that there is but little hope of there
having been a mistake made in their
identity.
The parrakeet has long been kept
from our shores by a rigid rule pro-
hibiting the parrot tribe from investing
and infesting these islands. Love birds,
another species of parrot and other cage
birds of this family have only been al
lowed to land when the officers have
been satisfied that there was no in
tention of using them for breeding pur-
poses.
The parakeet has wedge shaped tail
and the variety known as the Carolina
parrakeet was not SO very long ago
plentiful i'm Florida from which it has
now been practically eXterminated al
though the bird at one time flourished
to the Great Lakes of North America.
Parrots are generally classed by natu-
ralists as being found in "all warm
countries" but hitherto they have not
populated Hawaii. In Australia even
close to the cities they are numerous.
flying in vast focks and deafening
passers through the forests with their
shrill and discordant cries.
They feed mostly on fruit and are
accounted a menace to forestry. They
are not insectiVerous and in the plan
of Nature seem to belong to the des-
troyers' class of those animals that eat
the fruits of the earth without destroy
ing their enemies, unlike other birds,
which, while they fancy ripe fruit once
in a while, take it only by way of des-
Sert to their regular meal of fat cater
pillars and other insects.
With the climate in their favor, there
is every probability of Maui being soon
burdened with parrakeets, which while
they may look pretty will soon prove
nuisancecs in more ways than one un,
less measures are promptly taken for
their determination.
Eben Low who has received the
Virginian grosbeaks on the Sierra and
viii introduce them in Hawaii as as
Slstant insect destroyers, is afraid of
the hawks that are quite common in
the big island and who harry the small
birds and even chickens with a persist
ency that is discouraging to any newly
introduced bird struggling to get along
and rear a family in fresh habitat.
However the grosbeaks and their an
cestors probably can tell a "hawk
from handsaw" by virtue of their
States experience and, it is trusted will
circumvent the wiles of the sky pirates
The grosbeaks are members of the
finch family of which the well known
cardinal bird familiarized by the story
kantnnlEU fc al,
relative. They are considered very use
ful in getting after crawling and creep
ing things although they will not affect
the borers.