Preface to First Edition

Preface to First Edition More than twenty-five years have passed since the Adams Bay, as we pulled all our gear ashore by ropes publication of George Munro's Birds of Hawaii, and from mid-morning until late afternoon. there is a need for an up-to-date book on the birds of I also remember days and nights, however, when the Hawaiian Islands, if for no other reason than to my emotions ranged from frustration to depression chronicle the continual desecration of the unique Ha- and to disgust as I recalled my repeated, futile efforts to waiian forests and their animal life. find certain Hawaiian birds after reading of Hawaii as I have received considerable pleasure from the cre- it was in the 1890s. That the Hawaiian biota should ativity involved in writing this book. Part of the plea- have been raped, ravaged, and devastated during the sure resulted from the memories of notable field trips nineteenth century was regrettable even though under- in Hawaii between 1964 and 1970. I recall the feeling standable, but that this rape has continued not only of freedom and well-being when sitting atop Miller's into the twentieth century but even into the eighth de- Peak on Nihoa, scanning the endless blue Pacific on a cade of that century is a sad commentary on man as an nearly cloudless day, and then of looking down the animal species. Man is, indeed, a disease on the planet steep slopes at the many thousands of seabirds and at earth. Gene Kridler netting Nihoa Finches. I remember ex- Few people realize how ignorant we are to this day hilarating days and nights on Laysan—of swatting flies about the basic facts of the breeding biology of the en- on the beach as Nelson Rice and I talked of many demic Hawaiian birds. There are historical reasons, of things; of the night that Ron Walker and I donned course. The nineteenth century was a period of discov- headlamps in order to search for roosting Laysan ering new birds and of describing and naming them. Finches. There was the cold January day I saw my first Some of the early collectors also were plagued by trage- Crested Honeycreeper on the northeast slope of dy. William Anderson, the surgeon-naturalist on Cap- Haleakala—a day when the rain fell continuously in tain Cook's last voyage, died on August 1, 1778, and sheets; when the fog was so thick we could scarcely see most of the specimens collected on Cook's voyages across tiny Lake Wai Anapanapa; when the tempera- have been lost. To be sure, William Ellis, an "assistant ture did not rise above 45°F; and when John Macio- surgeon," painted 12 species of Hawaiian birds and lek, Dave Kawate, Joe Medeiros, and I were so cold John Webber painted 7, but apparently only seven of we could hardly eat our lunch. I remember clearly the these works have ever been published (Medway 1981). first trek into the Alakai Swamp country with Mike Ellis' watercolor paintings are described as having Ord, Ron Walker, and Warren King. Rarely in any ' 'considerable charm and delicacy.'' part of the world have I seen such a beautiful, awe- Andrew Bloxam made collections during the visit of inspiring, pristine area as the Alakai; the bulldozer H.M.S. Blonde in 1824 and 1825, but his collection also cannot reach it, but exotic plants could destroy it. My was lost. There was a published natural history report admiration for the crew of the Bureau of Commercial of the voyage, but Alfred Newton wrote that "an ap- Fisheries' ship the Charles H. Gilbert has not waned one pendix there indeed is, but one utterly unworthy of its bit since they skillfully got us and our equipment on reputed author, for the book was edited by a lady who and off Nihoa Island during the summer of 1966; these had pothing but a few of his notes to guide her, and men did not bat an eye as they were bounced about in though assisted, as it is stated, by 'the gentleman con- their skiff, surrounded by churning white water in nected with that department in the British Museum' XI xii Preface to First Edition the Appendix is a disgrace to all concerned, since, so clear from reading Malo's comments on the endemic far from advancing the knowledge of the subject, it in- forest birds that he had little or no personal knowledge troduced so much confusion as to mislead many subse- of them because there are many errors in his descrip- quent writers" (Henshaw 1902:74). Similarly, the tions. American naturalist J. K. Townsend collected in In his Sandwich Island Notes, Bates (1854) mentioned Hawaii in 1835, but Henshaw remarked that "our only one bird (Apapane) by name. Similarly, I was gain in knowledge of the avifauna of the islands result- also greatly disappointed in reading Isabella L. Bird's ing from the visits of these three investigators was com- Six Months in the Sandwich Islands to learn that she appar- paratively little. Nothing was published by the investi- ently found the birds not worth writing about. She was gators themselves," and, therefore, published material a skilled horsewoman, and covered Hawaii in 1873 as dealt almost exclusively with technical descriptions of few if any foreigners have ever done. She described the the birds, with little or no reliable information on dis- ferns and other plants repeatedly and at great length, tribution, behavior, or breeding habits. Indeed, the la- but had hardly a word for the birds. What I cannot bels on most of the specimens gave the region of collec- comprehend is how such an observant woman, travel- tion simply as the "Sandwich Islands," typically with ing alone with a Hawaiian guide and living in the no other information. homes of the Hawaiian people, could have shown no Perhaps the most significant of the early collections interest in the islands' remarkable birds, but this is was made by Charles Pickering and Titian Peale, who part of the historic reason for our ignorance of Hawai- visited the islands during 1840 with the United States ian birds. Exploring Expedition. However, nearly all of the spec- The modern era of Hawaiian ornithology began in imens were lost in the wreck of one of their ships. 1887, when Scott Wilson, an Englishman, began his Moreover, "of the original report upon the mammals work in Hawaii, and all of the important work done in and birds by Peale, nearly all the copies were destroyed Hawaii from that time to the turn of the century was by fire." There must be an interesting story to explain done because of the interest in the Hawaiian avifauna why John Cassin published a revised edition of Peale's by the English. Lord Walter Rothschild sent Henry work ten years later. Palmer to collect in the Hawaiian Islands from Decem- The first important list of Hawaiian birds was pub- ber 1890 to August 1893; George C. Munro was one of lished by Sanford B. Dole in 1869 (corrected and re- Palmer's assistants. The Royal Society and the British published in 1879); it covered about half of the species Association for the Advancement of Science sent found in the islands. R. C. L. Perkins to Hawaii in 1892. Perkins, an ento- British colonial servants and army physicians made mologist, was a keen field observer, and it is to him pri- significant studies of the flora and fauna in many far- marily that the first knowledge of the habits of the birds away places during the nineteenth century. How un- is attributed. He studied the land fauna for ten years. fortunate it is that none of the early missionaries in Despite the highly significant contributions made by Hawaii, such as William Ellis, C. S. Stewart, and Perkins, Henshaw could justifiably write in 1902: Titus Coan, apparently had any interest in the birdlife. "Notwithstanding the important contributions of the Each man wrote about his experiences in Hawaii, in- English naturalists, there is still offered an inviting cluding trips to the Kilauea volcano, but birds were ig- field for future study and investigation. Of the nored in the writing. The highly respected Hawaiian nests and eggs of Hawaiian birds we know next to scholar David Malo (born on Hawaii about 1793) did nothing." leave a written record (Hawaiian Antiquities, or Moolelo Henshaw added that he had prepared his list of Ha- Hawaii) telling much of Hawaiian history and culture. waiian birds "chiefly with the hope that the meager- Malo's book was translated from Hawaiian into En- ness of our knowledge respecting this subject may glish by Nathaniel B. Emerson in 1898 and was pub- thereby be made more apparent, and thus that island lished by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in 1951. In observers may be stimulated to enter this very interest- his biographical sketch of Malo, Emerson wrote that ing and fruitful field—a field, too, which it would seem "such good use did Malo make of his opportunities should appeal particularly to the pride and interest of that he came to be universally regarded as the great au- the residents of the islands." He wrote in vain. thority and repository of Hawaiian lore." Malo wrote As long ago as the turn of the century, Henshaw that the Hawaiians ate the following species of birds: (1902:71-73) also bemoaned the lack of interest of the Newell's Shearwater, Dark-rumped Petrel, Bulwer's Hawaiians in the birdlife. Petrel, Hawaiian Stilt, Golden Plover, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Coot, Hawaiian Rail, Crow, Elepaio, Oo, The impression seems to be general that in olden times the Mamo, Iiwi, Amakihi, and Akialoa.

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