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Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6735, 11 October 1928, Page 6

The habit of the pukeko were discussed at a recent meeting of the To Awamutu Acclimatisation Society. One farmer stated that he had been a witness of a strange incident near a sluggish stream. In the water was a wild duck and her brood. Nearby,' standing on a thick matting of watercress, was a pukeko. A hawk, flying overhead, was the signal for the ducklings to dive, to emerge a few seconds later among the watercress. To the astonishment of the observer the pukeko swiftly seized one of the ducklings by the head, stepped over to firm ground, and there killed the duckling by striking it sharply against a stone. A second later the head had vanished into the pukeko'a throat.