Fulton. — The Long-tailed Cuckoo. 133 



lizard casts its skin, which is similarly mottled. The name 

 Koekoea is possibly formed h'om the word koe, to scream, and 

 means the " Screamer," the word koe being evidently formed 

 from the squeak or scream of any bird on being captured. It 

 may have been applied to this particular bird from the pecu- 

 liar grating whistle or whizzing sound that it makes. Oe-o'e 

 in the Hawaiian language means " to grate or whiz." 

 " Koekoea," although so near in sound to the old Dutch 

 " koekoek " and the English " cuckow," has no onomatopoeic 

 reference to the actual call of this bird, which at no time 

 approaches the soft cooing of the Old-World Cuckoo. This 

 onomatopoeia is, however, well seen in many Maori words, as 

 in "Kuku," the Wood-pigeon {Carpophaga novcB-zealandicB), 

 which makes a soft cooing sound ; the high shrill calling 

 Kea (Nestor occidentalis) ; the harshly screaming Kaka 

 (Nestor meridionalis) ; and the sweetly whistling Piopio, or 

 Native Thrush. Tne name " Koekoea " is used by the 

 Urewera natives for " wanderers," or people who ever roam 

 about, have no settled place of abode ; and that the Maori 

 recognises the significance of the parasitic habit of both 

 Cuckoos is evident from many of his sayings or proverbs. 

 " Penei me te Pipiwharauroa," "You are like the Shining 

 Cuckoo " (in your actions — that is. You are no good, you 

 desert your children). Again, " Te parahika te koekoea," a 

 term used for a deserted child, means " the otfspring of the 

 Cuckoo "(49i). "E kua rite koe ki te koekoea," "You are 

 exactly like the Cuckoo " — that is. You are a lazy fellow like 

 the koekoea ; you let other people feed you : a term of reproach 

 used for an idle vagabond who "sponges" on others for his 

 food. Eeferring to the hibernating of the bird, they say, 

 " Ko enei manu e rua, ka hou ki rolo i te whenua noho ai i te 

 ngahuru " : " These two birds dig their way inside the earth 

 [under the soil] in the autumn." The following is a whaka- 

 takiri, or child's song, sung to an infant in arms : — 



Ko te uri au i te whenakoiiako, 



I te koekoea, 



E riro ne i ma te tataihore e whangai : 



" I am the offspring of the Bronze Cuckoo, of the Long-tailed 

 Cuckoo, left here for the White-headed Canary to feed." 

 When the call of the Bronze Cuckoo is first heard in the 

 spring-time the children(49c) greet the bird with the follow- 

 ing brief quatrain : — 



E manu tena koe. Kua tae tenei ki te mahanatanga. Kua puawai- 



nga rakau katoa. 

 Kua pa te kakara ki te ihu o te tangata. Kua puta ano koe riinga, 



tioro ai. 

 Tioro i te whitu, tioro i te waru. Me tioro haere ano e koe tenei 



kupu e whaia 

 Ake nei, ki te marae o tama nu, o bine ma: Kui, kui, kui whiti- 



whiti ora. 



