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Transcription
Gill, Douglas E.
1964
Kauai
might spoil in the heat (which was not oppressive but which was delightfully
cool). Larry did the Anianiau and I started on the House. We only had one
pair of small scissors between us. So it was new to try and skin birds with
a minimum of equipment. Larry finished the Amakihi in about half an hour.
My bird was in pretty bad shape, one leg nearly ripped off by the shot and
both wings shattered. After skinning it out we decided it wasn't worth the
effort or time, so I threw it out. A couple of pig hunters went by, only
one of which had a freshly killed pig. We continued our slow pace, stopping
once for Larry to get a nest from a tall slender shrub. It apparently had a
hole in the side, was a bulky thing of coarse grass with a fine grass lining.
It had this tiny white eggs in. I suspect Elapaio but it may have been one
of the Honeycreepers. We finally came to the end of the road, after about a
2.5 mile hike and started off down the trail to Mohihi Stream. Larry shot
an Elepaio at the corner of the road and the trail after about three shots.
This trail descended rapidly and finally came to a small cabin in the clearing
between two streams, I presume forks of the Mohihi. The fishermen who had
their jeep parked at the end of the road were nowhere in sight. We continued
hiking up the trail to the right. It ascended until it reached the top of
the ridge. Larry was shooting birds along the way but continued to miss.
On either side of us was a deep valley and forested ridges, nothing that
appeared like a lowland swamp. We hiked along and noticed the change in
birdlife: white-eyes decreased considerably and Apapane increased. I had
gotten the Apapane, Anakihi, Anianiau, Ahepa, Creeper down on the road and
wanted to see an Iwi very badly. Finally one flew across the trail which I