MAORI NATURE NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20988, 29 March 1930, Page 14

MAORI NATURE NOTES.

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By J. H. S. XVII. Kuia (" mother,” or " old woman ") is one of the petrel family. It has brown wings, with whitish breast and back, and the glossy plumage looks as if freshly oiled, and perhaps it is, for some sea birds have that strange capacity of oiling their feathers from a hidden reservoir, to make them waterproof. The yellow beak and black prominent nostril, together with the long pink legs and feet, give the kuia a unique appearance. Like all birds of its family, it flies with legs stretched at full length behind, as if to act as a steer oar in its swift flight. It is the best and most graceful diver of all birds of air or sea. The sailors watch it fold its wings at 60 feet up, drop faster than a stone, and* dive without a sign of where it hit the water. The involuntary tribute, “Bully for you! ” gave it a nickname which sticks. Under the surface its 1 egg'and wings are used as swiftly as in mid-air. Its cry is like that of a lamb which has lost its kuia (mother); hence, perhaps, its name, when it answers the cry of the babies. Makomako, or mako, a name also applied to such diverse subjects as the beauty of the bellbird and the dread of the shark. Nevertheless, this tree is the beaut of the forest margin. Common name, wineberry. The large opaque serrated leaves assume all tints of red, bronze, and old gold. The small claretcoloured flowers grow in clusters, followed by bunches of reddish berries, and these, with always autumn-tinted foliage, give the shapely tree a triple distinction. To rest a while beneath the mako's shads, And feast the eye with vistas draped in sheen; ’Midst leafy visions green, with crimson laid. And glints of sunlight struggling in between. It is easily grown, hardy, and altogether desirable as a gardfeu shrub. Birds feast upon the berries, and wine made from them had a fragrance and flavour all its own. In the days of the old “ tupara “ (two-barrel) muzzle loader, charcoal from the mako made the very best gunpowder with which to shoot the pakeha intruder. Kukupa Piro (“ odourous pigeon ”) familiar to all sailor men as Cape Pigeon, is friendly only in the wake of a ship, where he finds an easily earned meal. On land or near a small boat he is seldom seen, and never approachable. A petrel, named by courtesy rather than comparison, a pigeon, he is even smaller than the English Carrier. Head, bill, and feet are black, while the white back and wings are conspicuously marked with small angular patches of black, which do not harmonise. _ Breeding places are on outlying ro.ckly islands. There is but a single white egg, just like the rounded stones of the seashore, among which it is effectually disguised. Until 1902 no one had been reported to have actually found it. Thin cotton threads unwound from the stern of a vessel are used to entangle the wings and to haul them in. The Kukupa Piro can rise in flight only from the water. If caught, it disgorges an evil-smelling red fluid, perhaps used as a protection from an enemy; hence the Maori name.

Mamaku (“ light moisture ”) and Ponga {“darkness”) are our “two largest fern trees in the wide world.” They are the wonder and admiration of all visitors, and did these visitors but know it, their parks abroad might be adorned as easily as ours. Whole trees, after being used to decorate the wool shed for a country dance, rooted, when cast out on the damp grass in the shade, and grew where protected from stock. Outside the tropics, our fern? are the most beautiful and varied known. Seventy years ago Punch referred to the “ botanical fairy stories from Cannibal New Zealand where ferns were called trees." The Maori separated the fibre from the stem of the Mamaku and used the pith for food; but the pioneer survey parties were the first to discover that the curly young fronds stripped ■of the brown silky hair made a'tasty “apple pie.” Ebony rods of the Ponga which mingle with the pith made the very best spear points for the Maori bird hunter. The everlasting trunks formed his home walls and palisades. as they do our pergolas. Its unigrowth and unique beauty easily gave it first place as our national emblem.

Kurukuruatu (“the ever weary one”), perhaps so named because it is said to attend upon and perform some mysterious mission or service to the far' flying big toroa (albatross). It is well known that they nest in the same localities on far away exposed rocks where there is neither food, fresh water, nor shelter. The kurukuruatu was never seen more than a mile from the sea. Once plentiful in every bay and inlet in the south, now extinct or at least seldom seen. Small narrow body, short legs, and a great spread of wing enabled it to fly long distances with that champion aeronaut the albatross, in their strange companionship and unknown missions. The body is dark grey, head and breast white, but a perfect mask of black covered the face and throat, with a narrow black band around the neck, as if to tie ■ it on. The illusion was completed by the bright eyes peeping through this Nature’s visor. •

Manawa (“ heart ”), the mangrove, common to all tropical countries where there are salt marshes or tidal mud-flats. Its gnarled branches and twisted roots make a barrier upon which stormy waters are broken. The roots covered by salt water seek breathing, space at high tide, and get it by turning up the lower ends above water. These roots stand upright and serve not only the purpose of a breakwater, but also hold the mud and sea drift, thus reclaiming and fertilising the shore, which when raised above the tide, is abandoned by its builder, who steps out to the water line. The mangrove is associated in poetry and legend with undeserved superstitious horrors. When the tide covers the slimy mud around its deformed roots and lower limbs, it is a thing of beauty and has a good purpose in life.