BIRDS OF THE BUSH

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

BIRDS OF THE BUSH

■ ■•..'■■ •.’■ •'■■•'-■■■’WWb '.. ■ — < I MAORI NATURE NOTES I ■I (By J.H.6.—Copyright.) ■ The Brown Owl)—; I Ruru, the little brown owl, k abbu<Li the size of a blackbird; but he carried I . as much downy feathers as a full grow# ■ fowl. glasp eye twice a curved beak twice, as sharp, and taionfc I more cruel than a hawk;. At twilight hij' sits on the selfsame low branch, in. th# shade awaiting the dark, or calling I like a shy' lovelorn _ boy with a cold ik; his nose, “Mo poke, mo poke.” may’be but a, Running ruse to decjeivgi his prey. ' • . •'’ . ■ While yet the light blinds him, may catch him from behind .and;intron : duce him to the', family. Yet .‘agaiijf each night, he comes to the old perch*; more friendly than ever. ’ One evening at dusk he swoops qn the cage hanging ; . ■in ;the .open. bay ; window and flies -terj' the tree top .with ~ your ' sweet little head snapped, off. between thi;. ' wires. Next night you answer his nasal love song,' theri 'wring his neck. " ; The Tui.— < The tui, with his blue-black plumagewhite choker,and voluble.tongue, ‘ wart ■ aptly named by |ome unknown olw . ■server in , the very early, jdayrt i‘‘Th# 'Parson Bird.” A fine songster, he may •: be trained to whistle airs < tunefully* • With a..blade of across'. brie may imitate his cry of distress, ajidt , s call. v a.; score- of/thein to;- rescuei; j; Thus .were they caught by the Maoris ..for food; land the, feathers .used ■merit their 'mats and taiaha; .‘TSa said , we used secretly to split the nightjar ■ gale’s tongue to improve his voice. ■. The Old Maori, with a pipi shell as a' < lancet, operated on the tui’s voc&l cord, and taught , him isong; arid speech', ril? \- ways for some mysterious reason, within the • sight and... sound : of a Sraterf all.! 'When we are incredulous, we-gay “Tell that to the Marines.” Similarly alh evasive reply from a Maori, was. “Ui. • nga'tui” (ask it-of- the - tui),' deplorably ?■- corrupted in bur. .place , name, and ithrt ‘ name of the fine U.S.'S.steamer to Wing a Tuh The Spotted/Kiwi.— -. ■, • . '•■'■./■’ The roroa (long bill) is the grea4f, ■spotted kiwi ,of the Southern Alps.'/ It is easily distinguished by the soft black and white hairy feather, cbveritfg*/ and the long straight, bi 11... These eon</ spicuous birds, protected only by; an ab< normal sense of smell and hearing, cured the tangled grow high altM ;; ‘ tudes, where the -Maori's- organised siinvt.; ■ mer night hunting and captured.them? iri./ , hundreds for food, arid: clothing. \ Sixty i years ago a-demand for the iiniquyskjhal.c: came from the centres of fashion ini Europe. One trapper confessed to haVM? irig ‘ secured. • and . sold well over twq^;; thousand cured skins at from one •two. guineas; '.but' of 'course he main* /' ’ fained a' discreet silence at the tim<4;< 5 ■- Qrily on two toccasjons have white specimens been found and. these proved tri \be ;albinoe' hnd; not new variety. ;. In a number of cases the- parent 'birds' seeriiihgly desert their young; but this, ■ / is now .believed to/be a wise effort ta teach' them an ■ early lesson of self de-?} pendence. - 1 The Woodheri.— The: weka, or: woodheri,. whose spurred! t wing is useful as'a weapon, is the most familiar as- he is /the most inquieiriveiE . arid of hil but birds. Bush-r / men learned.mot to leave; a pipe or .al-;/ watch in the tent’or orii a stump neat’. by, or the prowler would- steal, it) ..Hi .-, was known to the Maori as Manutahai* 'the thief bird. AH the- same, weka*// make friends confidently, and are valued for their capacity to eat insect pesto : about the Louise. They-Avere easily /, snared by the Maori, but the Pakeh# : scattered grain and used "a. long karea# '(supplejack) to break their hecks with:aj,. swift down stroke. f ' ■ C The body was oily, and the method of j cooking;/was l 'to''W'fap .the freeh killeii// ''bird, just as he fell, legs, feathers, beak, and viscera ' in a ball of puddled' clay, and cover it in the hot ashes and em- / ■hers; ’ The feathers-adhered'io' the clay./J which /also.; absorbed the oil, and thsi ; ; flesh came' off -white, hisciqus arid tendwij /; The Black Woodheri.—• The weka pango (black woodhen) ig more attractive -bird -than, h'is brown cousip,- the' weka, but has the aama - ' habit .of., .overtcuriosity,, which often, resulted' in or capture. Seldons : if; ever; found inland, he haunted th. sea shore and fed among seaweed or on. mussels. His hiding place was ■ among the trees near the sea, where h® dodged pui-suit by/ayranging for t#ro or /- three’ exite. Thue in leisurely fashion-/' he would keep a ; dog busy for hourrt. / ! IHe is easily , attracted by. unusual - sounds? Maori hunters lured, the birds, ; and snared -them by darigling’; a. email/. | ■bush bird on the end of a stick, with:-' a’fUx noose; around it held on a longeJj rod. , ." . j ;' . The bush weka abhore a -bath, but thirt t sea rover will - dive ’if cornered, vanjfc/ seems at. home ;in deep- water' wheat-.; there'is no other/escape. Domesticated* he becomes very tame, 'but however vireU'; fed, he remains a born thief to the end. ; Like the weka, th© ./Maori; / knew-/ a. wrong in taking-what ho wanted. -w ‘word for theft /was/kaiaia (literally food for /him). There was nothing elto worth; taking,' so theft' was happily .- quite unknown. ' ‘/ / ■ Thd Little Grebe.— J < - • ■ '• ’ * ‘ The -weiw.eia (after the sound of it. ' cry) is the shy dabchick or little grebe. It has a black head; a back that ja /’ sometimes glossy; (green, brown -hrjUMitfe/ and silver under parts. It is one -of/ the latest of the rimriants among our birds, surviving, only because of its . capacity; to -'escape. obsm'vatioii .by- .«•>:' /'- maining under water ; H.'R.H. the Duka of.'Edinburgh saw; a; mother bird, wilh ./ its little family clinging by their beak* to the/back .feathers, diye in Lake Tiki* k ,-tapu .and-remain below for several min- • ui;es- -before, fts seconddisappearance. Tfirit. yeas, sixty-one.' years/ ago. As in '-’ expert.towimmpr,. and diver,' it has no equal, in, bird, life', ancient .or modern. The Maori declared that it had no power of flight, arid'that its powerfid wings. were/used.only, as flris. A natu-// ralist, in search of a specimen; said that : the flash ' of his gun wae. the signal by /; which it, ffodged ;the 'scattered s’ho.'sj' l even •at -close range./ Edward iWaker; field wrote, to;an .old time newspaper// that the “sportsman,”. who shot a weiweia should. have -had a ■ place in the service .of. King Herod. To.the. Maori;-§ people it• was an emblem.- of ths super, natural.’.".'; . .:'• • " " - : ? '' ' -