Some Recollections about Birds

The Owl.

The Pueo is a smaller large bird, like a hen of a chicken. Its flesh is delicious like chicken or Turkey. It is a very intelligent bird in stealing chicks by swooping down. So too other small birds, like the amakihi, and therefore, it is called a thieving bird, and called an Iwa [Frigate bird]. The owl is not eaten regularly by most people, there are only a few that eat Pueo. Those who eat it are greatly ridiculed. It is in Kula, on Maui, that people eat a lot of Pueo. The perching of that bird is famous at Kula, Maui. This bird is not famous on Hawaii or here on Oahu.

The Pueo is ???? like a Hawk [Io], and its cry is like a whispering “pi——o”. And if the Pueo fights, it hoots.

The eyes of a Pueo are round. Its eyes are large. That is why it is called a Pueo, as it has staring eyes…

[This article goes on, but most of it is hard to make out. I am not even sure about that part that says Kula people ate a lot of owls because of the bad image. Maybe now that Hamilton Library has a super scanner, there can be progress made on reshooting all of the Hawaiian-Language Newspapers?!

Also this is part of a series on birds, but much of it and a lot of this paper in general is hard to read because of the bad images now available.]

(Lei Momi, 7/27/1893, p. 2)

Ka Lei Momi, Buke I, Helu 30, Aoao 2. Iulai 27, 1893.