Philosophical Institute of Canterbury . 87 



PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OF CANTERBURY. 



Seventh Meeting : 1st November, 1911. 



Present : Mr. R. M. Laing, Vice-President, in the chair, unci seventy 



others. 



New Members. — Messrs. F. M. Corkill and J. T. McBride. 



Papers. — 1. " Some Notes on the Botany of the Spenser Mountains," 

 by K. M. Laing. 



This paper was extensively illustrated with lantern-slides. 



2. " The Methods of snaring Birds used bv the Maoris," bv J. 



Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



Abstract, with Notes on a Bird known to the Maoris as "Tiaka." 



In August, 1911, I visited a Maori named Paitini, who lives at Ruatahuna, in 

 the heart of the Urewera country. He is nearly seventy years old, and the object 

 of my visit was to obtain from him, at first hand, information in regard to the 

 ancient methods of snaring birds, which he learnt when he was a boy, before guns 

 had come into general use for killing birds in that part of New Zealand. In con- 

 versation, he mentioned a bird, which he said was the same as the kakapo (Stringops 

 habroptilus), only smaller, called the tiaka. The Ven. Archdeacon Williams, ot 

 Gisborne, in his list of Maori bird-names in the " Journal of the Polynesian Society," 

 December, 1906, gives " tiaka " as the name applied to the leader of a flight of 

 kakas [Nestor meridional is), but Paitini had another bird in his mind. When I 

 submitted Paitini 's statements to Mr. Elsdon Best he informed me that " tiaka " is 

 the name applied by North Island Maoris to the leader of a flock of kakapos. Each 

 flock, it is stated, had its " tiaka," which is believed to have been always a small bird. 

 It was supposed to lead or precede the flocks when they searched for food or returned 

 from their feeding-grounds. Mr. Best adds that it was also believed that at night 

 kakapos gathered at their wha.who.rua, or playground, where they went through a 

 performance like that of the American grouse, beating their wings on the ground. 

 The tiaka, apparently, was believed to be on guard, or was the manager, as it 

 walked around the edge of the place while the performance was held. Another 

 belief was that kakapos collected hinau and tawa berries and fern-root (aruhe), and 

 placed them in water-holes for future use. Maoris have told Mr. Best that kakapos 

 were formerly found on the ranges near Ohau, in the Horowhenua County, but 

 disappeared from there about three generations ago. They were also found on the 

 Whakatangata Range, in the densely wooded district north of Maunga-taniwha, west 

 of the headwaters of the Waiau tributary of the Wairoa River, a wild, broken, 

 forest country. Evidently, at one time, they were fairly plentiful in a large part 

 of the North Island, but disappeared from most of their haunts in that part of the 

 country before the arrival of Europeans. I am unable to supply any theory as to 

 the cause of their disappearance, which is a mystery. 



Exhibits. — Mr. S. Page exhibited and described a collection of speci- 

 mens of native clematis, making special reference to the great variation 

 in the flowers and leaves of C . indivisa. 



Dr. Moorhouse exhibited a specimen of the same species, showing 

 abnormal coloured growths due to parasitic fungi. 



Annual Meeting : 6th December, 1911. 

 Present: Mr. A. M. Wright, President, in the chair, and thirty others. 

 New Member. — Mr. T. Norris Baker. 



Annual Report. — The annual report and balance-sheet for the year 

 were adppted. 



Abstract. 



The membership of the Institute has reached its highest for many years, and 

 the finances are in consequence in a healthy condition. The .Artesian Wells Com- 

 mittee has important results to show as the result of the energetic investigations of 



