Easily Caught.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 33, 1 May 1917, Page 2

Easily Caught.

The New Zealand kakapo, or large parrot, with all its credit for brains, allows itself to be caught in a very simple mariner. In the dusk of the early dawn the Maories, carrying a tame kakapos tied to long sticks, set off to hunt. These are the callbirds used to attract by their screams the . large flocks of kakapos flying overhead. While one Maori tethers the call-birds by the leg, and sets them screaming to the full extent of their lusty lungs, another cuts as many perches as there are men in the hunting party from the neighbouring bush. By means of flaxbands these are lashed firmly to different parts of a little hut or ‘whare’ (in which the hunters secrete themselves), so as to act as perches for the unsuspecting birds. Bach perch is so fixed that It can he drawn down into the ‘whare’ through, the roof. On the perches are placed running nooses of flax, and when all is prepared, each Maori sits quietly within the ‘whare’ with his flax cord in his hand ready to pull at the right moment. The call-birds are then dis ; turbed by means of a long stick, and presently a large flock of parrots, hearing their cries, wheel down and settle with a great chattering in the adjacent trees. One by one they fly and settle on the perches of the ‘whare’ to hold converse with the call-birds, and when every perch is occupied a Maori gives the signal and the nooses are pulled. The hubbub of screaming and scolding as each perch with its captured parrot is drawn down into the ‘whare’ can be best imagined. It is only equalled by the frantic excitement of the Maories as they grasp the birds by the neck, and throw them aside dead.