In an article published in the May 1, 1894, issue of the “Hawaiian Gazette” newspaper, Kauai sugar pioneer Valdemar Knudsen (1819-98) presented a short history of several bird species that had been introduced into Kauai, most of them since his
In an article published in the May 1, 1894, issue of the “Hawaiian Gazette” newspaper, Kauai sugar pioneer Valdemar Knudsen (1819-98) presented a short history of several bird species that had been introduced into Kauai, most of them since his arrival on the Garden Isle in 1853.
He wrote:
“1. The (spotted) dove has been on Kauai since 1868. This one is much like the American or California mourning dove, but I have been told by several friends that it came from China.
2. The linnet has been here on Kauai since ‘63 or ‘64. It was introduced into the islands by Hon. C. K. Bishop and the late Mrs. Bishop. It commenced rather inauspiciously doing considerable mischief in rice plantations, but in the last 10 or 12 years it has ceased doing so.
3. The rice-bird (nutmeg mannikin), Mr. F. Pratt told me, he took with him in a cage from Japan (circa 1867) to the number of about 80, which he let fly in Honolulu.
4. The mynah Dr. Hutchison imported while Minister of the Interior, probably from India or Java (circa 1865), where it is considered a nuisance. I had it myself from Dr. Hutchison that he imported them.
5 and 6. The quail and pheasant had been introduced, I believe, by several parties to the different islands. The quail I saw at Hanalei in 1854 in flocks of a dozen or more.
7. The sparrow (imported from New Zealand circa 1871) has not, as yet, reached the west side of Kauai, but as it is common in the streets of Honolulu, it will spread.
I have not named the turkey as a wild bird, though certainly it is found wild on most of the islands; neither have I numbered the common or barnyard fowl, although it is wild in many places, and has been so for many years, and, as I believe, from the Hawaiian kind, and before 1800.”
