Birds of Hawaii by George C. Munro

Author:George C. Munro
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0954-4
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

1. Molokai Creeper—Adult female

2. Molokai Creeper—Adult male

3. Oahu Creeper

4. Kauai Creeper

5. Olive Green Creeper

6. Green Solitaire

7. Lanai Creeper

It has several calls and a sprightly song not particularly musical but cheerful; however, in continuous repetition by one bird it becomes monotonous. When large numbers are calling and singing together with other birds the effect is pleasing.

On Lanai in 1913-14 I made a special study of a number of nests of this bird. They were cleverly placed so as to be hidden from above as a protection from owls which are numerous and hunt over the open country contiguous to the forest "and which sometimes hunt over the tree tops. The nests are generally built in the scrubby ohia trees (Metro-sideros) 7 to 10 feet from the ground. They are about 4 by 6 inches in size, the bowl at the top 2 inches across and 2 deep. The. material on the outside is a layer of grass, moss or twigs and a layer of pulu (soft down from the tree fern) and generally lined with fine grass. The nests are soft and not at all compact. Several had 3 eggs or 3 chicks and one had young nearly fledged. The birds deserted one nest, perhaps because I bent a twig over it the better to protect it, and the chicks died. Despite the careful protection by the birds several were robbed, apparently by owls, as the bottoms of the nests were pulled up showing the chicks had held on to them. Eggs, three in a clutch.69x5 inch, white with streaky reddish brown spots thicker in a band round the large end. The feathers of the apapane were used to some extent in the Hawaiian feather work but were not especially favored as they did not show well at a distance.

There is every prospect that this bird will continue to survive but will not likely attain the numbers of the past unless in some of the most favorable forests.

LAYSAN HONEYEATER

Himatione freethi Rothschild Plate 10, Figs. 3 & 4

Adult about the size and shape of an apapane but the color of the body duller, wings and tail brown. Iris brown; bill and legs black. Immature light brownish color.

There seems to be some confusion concerning the correct spelling of the specific name of the bird. Rothschild very evidently intended to name it in honor of Captain Freeth, but in his original description, published in 1892, he misspelled the name, in its latinized form, as fraithii. In publishing the "Avifauna of Laysan" in 1893, the spelling was altered in the text to the correct form, freethi, although the original spelling was retained on the plate, which was apparently printed before the text The amended form of the name was followed by Wilson (1899) and Perkins (1903), but Henshaw (1902) kept the original form. Bryan's list (1942) used the spelling fraithi. I employ here the form intended by the author of the name.

Endemic to the island of Laysan; it frequented the grass tops, portulaca and other plants fringing the lagoon.

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