CHAP. IV.] FISHING. 45 



numbers the coasts and its inlets, is held in high 

 estimation ; it is eaten dried. In size the seines 

 (kupenga) used by the natives rival our largest, and 

 are made of unprepared flax exactly in the same way 

 and form as ours are. Large salt-water crawfish 

 are caught by diving, in which art the women are 

 very expert ; fresh -water crawfish, which are com- 

 mon in the inland lakes and rivulets, are taken with 

 bait. Birds are generally decoyed by imitating their 

 voices, or by a decoy-bird ; the latter is the mode 

 used to catch the kaka, or the Nestor australis. A 

 native concealed in the forest by a cover made 

 of branches has a long rod in his hands, which 

 reaches to a neighbouring tree : near him sits 

 the decoy-bird, whose cries attract the wild ones, 

 which deliberately walk down the rod, and are 

 caught one after the other in quick succession. 

 Tuis, or mocking-birds, are decoyed by imitating 

 their notes ; formerly pigeons were speared, but at 

 present the gun is generally used. In former times 

 the birds called kiwis (Apterix australis), and 

 kakapos (Centropus ?), formed part of the food of 

 the natives, but now these birds have become nearly 

 extinct in the northern island. The kiore maori, 

 or native rat, and the guana, were once favourite 

 dishes, but they have met with the same fate : the 

 native dog was formerly considered a dainty, and 

 great numbers of them were eaten ; but the breed 

 having undergone an almost complete mixture with 

 the European, their use as an article of food has 



