454 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



economy, which they so highly approved as to apply it pro- 

 verbially as a fitting example to their chiefs — e.g., "He kotiiku 

 kai-iuhakaata " {Eng. : The white heron eats leism-ely, after 

 viewing its food and its own shadow in the still clear water). 

 This is said of a chief who looks after due preparations being 

 made for his expected visitors ; also, of one who quietly and 

 courteously awaits the arrival and sitting of others to their 

 repast before he eats his own food. 



The Maoris were always passionately fond of the plumes 

 of these two birds, and prized them highly among their most 

 valuable possessions, making beautifully-carved boxes, with 

 their exact fitting lids, of hardwood, to keep their feathers in — 

 real caskets. These two birds were also not common. The 

 tail-feathers alone of the huia, being black, tipped with white, 

 were used for adorning the heads of the chiefs ; while several 

 of the pure- white feathers of the kotuku, from various parts 

 of its body, were of service. Those from within its wings, and 

 near their junction with the body, were of two kinds— the 

 larger of them were called merevicre, and the smaller aire.-''- 

 These last were sometimes stripped off with the skin adhering, 

 so as to form a ball-like bunch to be worn in the ears. The 

 larger feathers on the outside (secondaries, wing-coverts, 

 and scapulars) were termed ivaitiripaiKL ; while the ex- 

 treme feathers of its wings (primaries) were called hiku- 

 rangi. This bird, so comparatively common in the South 

 Island, is very rarely seen here in the North Island : in 

 all my travelling I have only seen four between Napier 

 and Cook Strait, and those flying singly and at different 

 times. One was shot here in Hawke's Bay, in the fresh- 

 water lagoon between Napier and Meanee, upwards of forty 

 5'ears ago, by W. Morris, the old whaler, who then resided 

 at Eangaika, beyond Cape Kidnappers. He was on a visit 

 in his whaleboat to me at Waitangi at the time, coming 

 round by Ahuriri^ when he came across the bird, and, having 

 shot it, was bringing it to me, when he was stopped by the 

 chief Tareha, who claimed the bird as being shot on his grounds. 



* I may here, in a note, point out the curious and apparently con- 

 trary meaning of this shoi-t word of three letters — aioe. I have already 

 mentioned it, in section ii. of this paper, as the proper name for soot 

 (which is pure black), while here it is also the proper name for the fine 

 gauzy feathers of tliis bird (which are pure white). This same name is 

 also given to similar white feathers of tlie gannet and of the albatros. 

 And in section iv. [supra) it is again used as the proper name for the 

 long white flowing hairs of a IMaori dog's tail. So that it would appear as 

 if the ancient IMaoris put aside the colour and the origin of the substances, 

 and only considered their common lightness and airiness. This, again, re- 

 appears in this same word being used adverbially for " soon," " early," " in 

 time," with especial reference to travelling, walking to a place, &c., as if 

 denoting quickly, lightly moving. 



