The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-08

Of locating more accurately the spot
where il should have struck the ground. |
To nay JOY l found the mangEed remains |
hanging in the tree Ia a thick bunch |
OF leaves. six feet or more beyond /
where II had been sitting. 1t was, AS |
l feared, badly mutilated. However. |
il was made into very fair cabinet
skin.
Feeling that where one bird had
been round others were likely TO be. |
and beng elated at the success of the
day, i altered my plans 80 as 70 ex- |
tend my stay IN the locality Accord |
}uglE. on the third of June, with my
guide / packed my range tent and out
nj into the mountains and established
new camp in the jungle, at the head
OF NaIalua valley. The country here
was SO steep and rugged that it was
difficult TO find place seven feet
square that would DO To pitch a tent
on, / need hardly add that il rained
continuously. The trail was continued
along the ridge between Waiaua and
Honouhwai streams. Early in the al
ternoon l dismissed my native and con
tInued on the trail alone / had GOV
cred no great distance when under cir
cumstanceS similar TO those already lie
serlbed. | heard the call note Hoa
again, this time q hundred yards or so
IN front of me. Ny best efforts at
Initiating it seemed to have no effect.
| whlstled and called and hoped. At
first the bird answered my calls. then
II failed TO respond. | continued whist
ling until it seemed certain that it must
have gone off in some direction, when,
without reason or warning, my second
H0a few and lit in a kopiko tree. not
fifty feet away and began TO preen
and spread its wings Catching sight
of me it began to work off through the
woods. / fred, and this time had no
difficulty in picking up a perfect adult
male specimen. Though I stayed in the
vicinity for more than an hour nothing
was seen or heard Of its mate
The following day found me early
| in the field. Though there was steady
downpour of cold rain | worked on
until three O'Clock. Not meeting with
anything to encourage me, | climbed
up into tree preparatory to taking
last survey of the country, if there
should come a rift in the dense fog
clouds. Presently | caught "A note en-
t1relv different from any / had vet
heard Ii was q rollieking whistle of
| five or SIX clear notes. which | was
only partially able to reproduce The
| bird, however, came nearer and finally
/ lit in the thick branches of a tree fifty
feet or so below ME. In my haste to
| get down out of the tree [ was in. some
| limbs gave way, and | came gathering
down quite a distance before | was
able to regain my footing. That the
| disturbance had frightened the Hoa |
| felt quite certain. and was therefore
| agreeably surprised to find that through
| IT all it had not moved from the tree
| where it had first lit 1t seemed to be
willing to be studied, an opportunity
for which / was exceedingly grateful
This bird, as well as the two former
| specimens, confined its range to the
| underground, several times coming
| down to within three or four feet of
| the ground At no time did it make
| long flight or alight on the top of
| the trees. As it was raining all the
| while the bird was especially active in
preening and shaking its feathers. The
| trees and vines were everywhere COW
cred with thick wet moss, and although
the bird hoped about from branch TO
! branch, carefully inspecting each limb,
| did not see it catch any insects, or
| even probe into the moss Hopping
! from tree 70 tree, it worked its way
| around the head of the little side val
| ley, up which it had come in answer
to my call, TO where large parple-
| Powered lObeiia was in profuse bios
| som. and began to feed. The ease and
! grace with which the feat was accom-
| piished was indeed interesting, and left
no doubt in my mind as TO one of the
| probable causes of the remarkable de-
velopment of the tongue and bill. The
tongue was inserted with great pre-
cisiOn. up to the nostrils, in the flower,
| while the bird balanced itself on the
| branches, assuming almost every i'm
| aginable attitude in its operations. In
! ali three of the birds secured, the crown
was smeared with the sticky, purplish
white pollen of this lobelia. | had a
! preeonceived idea that the bird would
also feed on the flowers of the wild
| banana This conjecture ] was not
| able to prove or disprove by my OBJ
servations. further than that in each
ease no bananas were to be seen in the
| valleys below or anywhere in the vicin-
| itv where the birds were secured
/ The third specimen. ike the two pre-
! ceding it proved TO be male, in per
| feet plumage The bodies of the last
| two and the stomach Of the first one
| its body being badly mangled-are pre-
served in alcohol for anatomical study.
| The series of three. so far as c0loration.
curvature Of the beak, etc, are con-
| cerned. are identical Their measure
ments. carefully taken, are:
| - - -