Chinese Happy Wren?? I meant Chinese Warbling Wren in the subject line. This
is how myths and legends get started and why we find ourselves taxonomicly
confused sometimes... sorry. I'll stick to Melodious Laughing-Thrush for now
although I can't find any cross reference to 'Chinese Warbling Wren'. My
little "Pocket Guide to Hawai'i's Birds" by H. Douglas Pratt (1996) reads for
the Melodious Laughing-Thrush: "a prized cage singer in China, where it is
called the 'hwa-mei'. It is said that the birds were introduced to Hawai'i
during the Chinatown fire in Honolulu earlier this century, when many were
liberated by their owners to save them from the flames." Anyway, they are now
common on Kaua'i, Maui, and the Big Island.

Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA, USA)