"THE TUI."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 4 (Supplement)

"THE TUI."

For they had heard from golden tree, With dripping beak a ' UI s ' n S- u * The kowhai tree is not only look upon. Its golden cups hold sweetest nectar, and it is this \ good that draws' to it the tui, the bird and other honey-eaters. I | ie j patient tui will not wait to dip his | feathered tongue properly down into , depths of the cup. In his greedy . I ho tears at the delicate petals, e them all split and ragged. In return fhe | his delicate meal, the bird ca "' ieS . kowhai's pollen on his sticky bill | flower to flower, thus helping the tree make good seed. Then, when lie | sipped his fill of nectar, in praise of a | things good, lie carols faith h«s s° n g J| sweel fo clear, so bell-like that cannot describe it. F lo gather an - of its beauty one must hear for the tui's ringing note. „ M Is it any wonder that anv 0 [ lander, who has seen the golden g JS the kowhai tree and heard the music of the' tui, is proud of h land ? . (Copied.)— Stanley Mason 24, G!«n Stanley Ba;r (age 10 years).