Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 435 



were found anywhere it would be buried by the finder. If a person saw 

 some feathers on the ground — feathers that had been plucked out by the 

 Inrds themselves, any dropped feathers — then such person would return 

 home and say, ' The birds have migrated ; there are none left.' Then it 

 would be asked, ' How so ? ' And he would reply, ' I saw the feathers.' 

 Old people would be very angry if they saw feathers lying about a \'illage. 

 Now, suppose a man is engaged in trapping birds. He snares a bird, and 

 at once plucks out the long feathers from the wings and tail. He forms 

 these feathers into a bundle, and throws it down at the base of the tree he 

 is perched on. If he is down on the ground trapping birds, he will thrust 

 that bundle of long feathers under the tree-fern fronds of which his shelter 

 is constructed — hoi hautea te huruhuru, koi heke te manu (lest the place 

 be whitened by feathers, lest the birds migrate). That is the reason why all 

 feathers are buried or concealed — koi hautea te huruhuru, koi katea haere i 

 te ngahcrchcre, koi putu haere (lest the feathers be whitening the forest, 

 lest they be seen lying about). It was a common thing to hear a person 

 say, ' Kaua e whakahautea te huruhuru ' ; or an old fowler to young people — 

 ' Koi hautea te huruhuru.'' " 



Here we see that it was considered absolutely essential that no loose 

 feathers should be seen in the forest, or on paths, or even at the villages : 

 they must be buried or otherwise concealed. You cannot be too careful 

 during the game season, or you will find your forest birdless. There is 

 much tapu pertaining to the offspring of Tane, arboreal and ornithological, 

 and unless you have a care you will offend the forest gods and bring trouble 

 — yea, dire tribulation — upon yourselves. It makes you careful, you know. 



And here is another point. Paitini, of Tuhoe, says, " During the birding 

 season, should we go to a village and there be given some birds as food, 

 we might not consume them all, and so be desirous of bringing home those 

 not eaten, but we would not be allowed to do so. We must leave them 

 there, because if cooked food be carried through, or taken into, the forest 

 during the game-taking season, then the mauri of the forest would be pol- 

 luted, defiled ; the birds would leave the forest, and then there would be 

 no birds {kua tamaoatia te mauri a te iiyaherehere, kua heke nga manu, kua 

 kore he manu)^ 



Here again old Tutakangahau explains : " A person, or a party of per- 

 sons, goes to a village. They arrive, and are given food — cooked birds — 

 and do eat thereof. But they must not take away any of those birds, or 

 any remnants even of those partially consumed by them. But if they are 

 given any uncooked birds, they may take those. But still one of those un- 

 cooked birds must be returned to the donors, the villagers, as a tautawki — 

 that is to say, one bird will be taken by the villagers out of the mata (basket 

 of birds) presented to the visitors. Tautawhi means a holding, a retaining 

 of the birds (of the forest), lest they follow those given to the visitors, and 

 which will be taken away. The village people will take that one bird from 

 the basketful, or they may merely take a wing of one of the birds, just break 

 oii a wing as a tautawhi. As a person takes the bird or wing he repeats, — 



'■ Puritia a uta 

 Piiritia a tai 

 Puritia a Tane. » 



(Retain [the products of] land and sea ; retain Tane.) That is all. He 

 takes the wing away and buries it in the earth, but the body of the tau- 

 tawhi bird will be eaten by the villagers." 



