The "Before-Dawn-Song" of Our

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22687, 27 March 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

The "Before-Dawn-Song" of Our

C : APTAIN COOK'S descrip I tion of the before-dawn-song of the New Zealand birds is well known, and has been quoted repeatedly. Dr. Maynard s volume contains a description of the chorus as heard at Port Levy, Canterbury, which in the future will he quoted oftener than Captain Cook's."—From " The Whalers," by Dr. Felix Maynard and Alexandre Dumas, published recently in London by Hutchinson.

"Suddenly ... I stopped, I listened. . . . What had I just hoard at the edge of the forest? A small bell, no doubt — a goat's hell, at first slow, then quicker, then evervu here at once.

" No. it was not a goat's bell, it was the bell of a bird, of that bird which, every night, gives the signal for the magic concert that the plumaged artistes of the austral lands perform before the rising of the sun. " The to come and interrupt the silvery ringing of this little bell was the tui. It flung into the night and into the midst of the silence a fusillade of rapid and continuous notes, like a bouquet of fireworks. This was the first tenor, who took possession of the stage. Soon came the rosary, told bead by bead, of the glaucope (Orange-wattled crow), followed by the brilliant notes

of the troupiale. Next, a solo as though from a crystal flute, came from the fan vet te de tangara (.South Island thrush), singing its nocturnal hymn. Tho other birds paused for an instant as though to listen. Then all together once more resumed, like an immense choir, each sustaining its part; the mesange embellished the harmonious concert with triple and quadruple quavers; the pigeon (colombe), with its flow of low notes; the traquet, with head as blue as heaven, a skilled baritone, passing from the pigeon to the tui, from the base to the tenor; finally, tho triehoglosse (parrakcet), in its turn, scat-

Native Birds

tered its skilful trills amid this marvellous melody; while the perroquet trigops (kaka) the cymbal-player of the forest, mingled its brazen vibrations with the sound of the silver bell. ''No longer did I ask myself what I should do while waiting for the day; I listened. 1 listened thus for two hours, then, little bv little, the concert censed, and the tui alone continued to sing. The sun had risen." The above appears in the account oi Dr. Ma,vnard's whaling expedition in .Vow Zealand waters from 15.37 to 1846. Dr. Mavnard was a friend of Alexandre Dumas, who helped him prepare his book. It is easy to understand that Dumas would be thrilled by the adventures of his friend, which after many vcars are translated from the French for the benefit of the British reading public.