MAORI NATURE NOTES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 163, 30 June 1930, Page 7

MAORI NATURE NOTES

FOR TRIBUNE READERS (Copyright—J.H.S.) Reader, of the "Tribane” who are interested in the flora and bird life of New Zealand, by cutting out these Maori Nature Notes each day as they appear and filing them in a suitable scrap book, may compile a book of reference which will be to them a source of pleasure and instruction in the years to come. TOETOE, the Fern bird, lived in the swamp and fed on insects among the Aruhe fern or the Toitor grass. Lt seemed to be heard in thousands, but was so elusive that one seldom saw it. Its cry was like the shrill whittle with which one boy calls another. Seldom caught, even by the most persistent boy hunters, who sought it for the tail, which was prized by their sweethearts as a hat ornament. Each tail feather, like the tail itself, was sharp pointed, and together, they formed a beautiful tan like adornment, marked with a tingo of reddish violet. When the korari flaz stems were in bloom, their scented honey attracted myriads of insects, and it was only then that these shy little birds could be seen as clever climbers in the sunlight. They have brown wings, mottled white on the breast amt the under side of the tall feathers. A distinguishing mark -was the white curve of feathers over the eye.