98 
manner to a lower level, it speeds forwards with half-closed wings and tail, and then rises high in the 
air again by a rapid vibration of those members. 
It is a pretty sight to watch a pair of them mount together in playful flight, high above the 
tree-tops ; then, by a simultaneous movement, they descend in company and alight on the topmost 
twigs of some tall forest tree, where they puff out their plumage, giving a very exaggerated appear- 
ance to their bodies, and gesticulate as if in angry altercation with each other ; and then, as if by 
mutual agreement, they rise together in the air, and disappear in opposite directions. 
There is, I believe, a popular notion in the Colony that the plumage of the Tui is black, and 
even some old settlers, familiar enough with the bird, considered the plate in my first edition too 
highly coloured. But this is entirely a mistake, as may be easily proved by holding the bird against 
the light, at the angle of incidence. It will then be seen that the plumage presents beautiful steel- 
blue and purple colours, with high metallic reflections, particularly on the breast, wings, rump, and 
upper tail-coverts. On the shoulders and mantle, also, there are. bronze reflections which no artist 
could ever do justice to. In the sunny glades of the forest the glancing of the light on its burnished 
plumage and the gleaming of its pure white epaulettes renders the Tui a very attractive object, as it 
glides rapidly from one tree to another, or darts into the sunshine to capture a vagrant butteifiy. 
The food of the Tui consists of ripe berries of various kinds, flies and other insects, and the 
honey of certain wild flowers. To enable it to collect the latter, the tongue is furnished at its 
termination with a brush of extreme fineness — a characteristic common to all the true honey-eaters 
—the nectar ascending to the tubular portion of the tongue, apparently by capillary attraction *. 
When the functions of life are suspended or interfered with, this little brush protrudes from the bill. 
This occurs not only after death, but in the case of the sickly Tui ; and the involuntary protrusion 
of the tongue may generally be accepted as a fatal symptom. It also feeds with avidity on the sugary 
bract-like spadices of the kiekie ( Freycinetia banksii). In the months of October and November, 
when the kowhai (Sophora grandiflora ), which grows so luxuriantly on the river-flats, has cast its 
leaves and is covered with a beautiful mantle of yellow flowers, its branches are alive with Tuis ; and 
in December and January, when the Phormium tenax is in full bloom, they leave the forest and 
repair to the flax-fields to feast on the korari honey. At these times large numbers are caught in 
snares or speared by the natives, who thus supply themselves with a delicious article of food. 
On these occasions the best-conditioned birds are preserved in their own fat, and potted in 
calabashes, “ hua-hua koko ” being esteemed a great delicacy. At the periodical festivals one or two 
of these pots, decorated with Pigeons’ feathers, are placed on top of the great pile of food which is 
presented to the visitors at these ceremonials. Calabashes of kaka, titi, and kereru are plentiful 
enough, but one of “ tui ” gives the finishing touch to the menu at a Maori feast of the kind I have 
indicated. 
Among introduced trees, the Tui is particularly partial to the Australian blue-gum ( Eucalyptus 
globosa ) and the common black-wattle. When these trees are in full bloom, this bird holds high 
carnival among the flowers, making playful sallies into the air from time to time, and uttering its 
melifluous notes, as if in the highest ecstasy. 
At certain seasons of the year, when its favourite berries have fully ripened, the Tui becomes 
* Dr. Gadow, after describing fully the muscular apparatus in Prosthemadera, thus explains the suctorial process : — “ The 
contraction of the mylo- and serpi-hyoid musclos presses the whole tongue and larynx upwards against the palatal roof of the 
mouth-cavity. The mouth is thus wholly filled up. Through the contraction of the genio-hyoid muscles the tongue will be 
protruded from the mouth. Now, if the serpi-hyoid muscles relax, and the tracheo-laryngeus and tracheo-hyoideus, on the other 
hand, by their contraction depress the larynx and at the same time depress the posterior part of tho tongue, a vacuum will be 
produced between tongue and palate. This space, again, is in connexion with the tubes of the tongue, and therefore will be 
filled by the fluid into which the tips of these tubes may be inserted. In the birds in question the fluid is honey or nectar. 
Consequently sucking is accomplished automatically through the mere protrusion of the tongue.” (Proc. Z. S. 1883, pp. 68, 69.) 
