166 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



eight might be found huddled together, as the Morioris declare, 

 like pigs in a bed. Having by observation found its sleeping- 

 place on the ' clears,' the Morioris made long tracks leading up 

 to it, carefully removing any sticks or obstructions vphich might 

 alarm the bird by cracking ; and then, by making a stealthy 

 rush, they pounced on them, and secured all in the nest or 

 sleeping-place. This bird had a powerful strident call, which 

 could be heard at a great distance. Its neck loas said to have 

 been about as long as a man's arm. 



" The mehonui was peculiar in this : that if any one ap- 

 proached it in front it did not see him, and, approached thus 

 quietly, was caught by the neck and strangled. It kept its 

 head continually on the ground, looking for food, chiefly fern- 

 root, which it burrowed for and dug out with its powerful bill, 

 making, it is said, a rooting like a pig. Any one, however, 

 coming from the side or behind was quickly detected, and the 

 birds made off. Its colour was reddish-brown, something like 

 the New Zealand kaka. The mehoriki " (small meho) " was 

 a very tame bird, but was only cauglit at certain seasons, 

 being strictly preserved at others. The eggs ivere never eaten 

 if in the least turned " (i.e., sat upon) ; " children were always 

 reproved for so doing. The birds ivere caught by preparing 

 large traps with luide icings to them, betiveen ivhich they ivere 

 quickly driven. These birds lived in and preferred the 

 undergrowth of the bush, which afforded them conceal- 

 ment." (Kather difficult to round them up in such a place.) 

 " The flesh was said to be very delicate, and much relished 

 by sick persons. The mehoriki was a very watchful bird. 

 No stranger could approach without it uttering its warning 

 cry." (This is a singular habit for a very tame bird.) 

 "In colour it was light-straw-coloured, and spotted like the 

 New Zealand bittern, but not so dull a grey as the latter. 

 The eggs were spotted, and about the size of a medium or 

 small hen's egg. 



" They also had the pakura {Porphyrio melanotus). There 

 were also several varieties of ducks — percr , which were snared 

 in pools or ponds, or driven ashore in the moulting season 

 (perer mounu). They ivere driven from the lagoons into tlie 

 rushes and coarse growth of the ' clears ' or open land, where 

 large numbers were caught." 



It seems to me that the habits and descriptions of these 

 birds have got mixed up. The parts I have written in italics 

 would seem applicable to the extinct swan and the method of 

 catching it. The mehonui could not well be the name of a 

 species of kaka-po {i.e., night-parrot), nor would a parrot have 

 a neck as long as a man's arm ; for the Polynesians signify a 

 parrot by the word "kaka"; like the Maori kaka (Nestor 

 meridionalis) , kaka-riki, "small parrot" (the varieties of the 



