MUTTON-BIRDING

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 3 May 1923, Page 2

MUTTON-BIRDING

MAORI METHODS OF CAPTURE. The titi or mutton-bird season promises to provide a splendid harvest this year—Lie buds be^g in prime condi- : lion, pi.uup and ucu'-. .v. reports Messrs. Ce.ii HW.ett and Jules Tapper, who are at present cruising iii- •-Stewart Island waters. Last season, it will be remembered, the miittcn birds were in very poor condition, thousands upon thousands of the young birds eying owing to starvation. The Maoris sate that this season's birds are as good, or even better, than has been the caie for many years past. of the parties, although late in getting on their respective islands, have already obtained a large tally of birds. Messrs. Ha-zlett and: Tapper report that on places visited ' last season, where the tui was in hundreds, not one is to be seen this year. This is also the case with the kaka and kuku (pigeon). But on the other hand, the smaller bush birds are more plentiful, such as the fantail, tomtit, robin, and mako-mako, while the imported finches are also numerous. The inquisitive weka is also one of the first of the feathered tribe to make his appearance. Oil the 3rd of nest month j torching or>9iations take place. This method of capturing the titi accounts for more birds than does the operation of digging them out of their holes. VVith torches the Maoris go out at night and in the early hours of the morning, and then find the titi out of their burrows exercising their wings and limbs preparatory to their long j migratory flight to other lands. This \ method would be good practice for n I football team, as it is one great scrable in the darkness to catch the birds, with many a. trip and a slip over the logs, bogs, and creepers. Two 45----minute spells at football would be much easier than a night's torching. ' The orthodox Maori method, when once the titi is captured, is to place the bird under his arm, so as to stop the vipor--1 ous flapping of its wings, then to seize 1 the crown of its head with his teeth and crush it, after which the tit? "takes the count." On many occasion? the titi trets in first with its powerful beak, and many a Maori comes out of the <-omb?.t minus n. -piece of ?kin from his nose or face. The numerous islands have always well denned tracks, cut and cleared in all directions, and the birds, iv bundles of six or a dozen when killed, are placed on the tracks. from where they are collected and brought to the plucking whares, where they undergo many handlings, to be placed finally in kelp bags and kits in the form Ivest known to purchasers in the city. During a night's torching many mistakes take place, such as encirclincr one's arm around a plump old penguin—a peek from whose hill in the darkness soon reminds one that he has captured something in the shape 'of <i moa.