260 Transactions. 



find manapau given as the name of a tree of Hawaiki. The very same 

 sentence occurs in Sir George Grey's " Polynesian Mythology." Williams's 

 Dictionary gives " manapau, a tree," and refers it to the latter work. Old 

 Pio, of Ngati-Awa, made a remark to me one day, " There is a lake at Pi- 

 hanga, the green lake. A bird called the manapou is fomid there. It has 

 two topknots on its head. These birds dive to the bottom of the lake in 

 order to bring forth their young. There is also a bird at Rua-M^ahia, the 

 tirotiro, its cry being ' Ti-tiro, ti-tiro!'' " 



Another old warrior says, " The manatawa is a dark-coloured stone, or 

 kernel, in form like that of the tawa. It is found, like the o manapou, in 

 the crops oi haka that fly hither from Hawaiki, but is somewhat smaller. 

 We believe both to be kernels of tree-fruits of Hawaiki. They are eaten 

 by birds there, and those birds fly here to New Zealand. In olden times 

 the kaka used to fly here in great numbers from Hawaiki, and would be so 

 exhausted on reaching land that they were easily caught by hand." 



Umanga or umanganui is an expression sometimes applied to birds, 

 more especially to kereru and kaka, as being the two chief species from a 

 Maori point of view. Natives say that the term is derived from unia, the 

 breast, most of the meat on a bird being found on the breast. But umanga- 

 nui is also used in other ways, as Te umanganui o nehe ra, he ivhawhai, the 

 origin of which is not so clear. 



The kaka nests in hollow trees, as also do the kotare, miromiro, momoutu, 

 niru, and tihe. 



The young of the kaka were taken from the nest for food purposes when 

 feathers had grown on their wings, but before they could fly. They were 

 not taken before that age. They would be found very fat, especially so 

 were the puta or hollow of the tree a deep one. Paitini says that such a 

 deep hole or hollow in a tree in which kaka nested was termed a rua matini. 

 To ascertain whether or not the young birds were ready for taking, the 

 fowler procured a green branch and rustled it at the mouth of the hole. 

 If very young the birds uttered no cry, but if they squawked on hearing 

 the sound, then the fowler knew that they were old enough to take. 



Kaka resorted to the same hollow tree year after year for breeding pur- 

 poses, unless they were frightened away by clumsy fowlers. These puta 

 kaka, or breeding-holes, were highly prized. Should a person meddle with 

 one to which he had no right he would be pursued and probably slain. 



The term matini, or rua matini, is applied, says Paitini, to a deep hole 

 or hollow in a tree (apparently not to a shallow hole). It was in these deep 

 holes that the fattest young kaka were found. Those found in shallow 

 holes, such as could be reached with the arm, were not so fat. In a matini 

 the nest may be at the ground-line, but the opening thereto situated 10 ft. 

 up the trunk of the tree. An implement called a ichakawiri was used where- 

 with to take young kaka from such deep holes. This was a rod or light 

 pole, to one end of which were attached a number of loops of flax or other 

 fibrous leaf. This end was thrust down the hollow into the nest. The 

 young birds, in scrambling about to avoid it, would get mixed up among 

 the loops. The manipulator kept turning the rod round, so that the loops 

 were twisted round the bodies, legs, or wings of the birds, which could then 

 be drawn up. One young bird was always left to " take care of the nest," 

 as the Maori puts it. This was probably done so that the birds would not 

 desert the tree as a nesting-place. Again, if an axe were used on the tree, 

 to enlarge the entrance to the hole or make a new entrance, the birds would 

 desert it. 



