270 Transactions. 



The above stones are difficult to understand until we note an explanation 

 given by Mr. .Tregear in a very interesting paper on " Polynesian Folk- 

 lore " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xix, page 490), wherein he states that lehua 

 { = rehua in Maori) is an ancient name for a forest in the Hawaiian dialect. 



The Tuhoe Tribe have two names for each sex of the koko. The male 

 bird is known as kopurehe and the female bird as kouwka from the time of 

 the flowering of the kotukutuku until the fruiting of the hinau. During 

 the balance of the year the male bird is termed kokouri and the female 

 kokotea (cf. parauri in Tregear's Maori Dictionary). 



The term kouwha seems to equal uwha, and is applied to female animals 

 and female blossoms or trees. 



The Natives say that towards the autumn the koko will, in some seasons, 

 wake up in the night and "talk" for a few minutes, and then again be 

 silent. This is said to be a sign of a fruitful season coming — all forest food 

 products will be plentiful. 



The koko was, apparently, the only bird taught to talk by these Natives, 

 and the only one kept as a pet. The mokai kaka were kept for use. When 

 a bird was caught which it was proposed should be kept and taught to 

 speak, it had a piece of its long tongue cut oft". This bird is a honey-sucker. 

 A famous talking koko kept at the Hei-pipi hamlet years ago was named 

 Tauaiti, after an ancestor of those parts. It was tohia (end of tongue cut 

 off) by Pirimona, of Maunga-pohatu. 



The bird was then placed in a covered place. Two pieces of supplejack 

 were fixed in the ground as hoops, one at right angles to the other, to serve 

 as a framework. This frame was covered with a mat or old baskets. Food 

 was placed at one end and water at the other end of this structure, and 

 the bird soon learned to find them. After some time the bird would be 

 put in a cage made of thin twigs of manuka. A small opening was left at 

 each end of the cage, and a small wooden trough, sometimes ornamented 

 with carving, was fixed outside the cage, just under the two apertures. 

 Food was placed in one, and water in the other. These cages were hung 

 in the porches of the houses. After the birds had learned to talk they would 

 begin to air their eloquence very early in the morning. Old-time residents 

 of Pori-rua, of forty or more years ago, will remember such a bird, the pro- 

 perty of hale Jimmy Mitchell. That koko was a past-master in the delivery 

 of the Maori tongue. 



The tongue of a koko, or the ends thereof, are termed puhihi by Natives, 

 a word also used to denote rays of light, as from stars, &c., and also the tail 

 and side streamers of a kite. These ends of the bird's tongue were cut so 

 as to enable the creature to speak distinctly. If they were not so cut, then 

 the bird's enunciation would be very poor. The koko emits some curious 

 sibilant sounds at the end of each " set piece," which sound much like a 

 person spitting. 



We here give a few^ specimens of these songs or recitations taught to the 

 koko in former times : — 



He Ako Koko. 



Kiki tai pari, kiid tai pari 



Whakataka horohoro ki tua o Maketu 



Maranga mai — e — u — e. E — u — e 



Ka ki te tai, ka heke te tai 



Ka whakarara koa nga tai o te awa 



He tai tana — e, elie ! ehe ! 



Kai tiiha ! 



