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colour ; the tarsi thickly covered to the toes with white down, having the appearance of stockings ; quills 
and their coverts just developing, the rounded white spots on the latter being very conspicuous ; bill greenish 
black ; toes yellow ; claws dark brown. 
No. 2, which is apparently ten days or perhaps a fortnight older, is in a condition to leave the nest : 
plumage as in the adult, but duller, and mixed with darlc-coloured down on the breast; head well-feathered, 
but with less white about the chin and facial disk ; feathers very fluffy and with downy filaments still 
adhering on some parts of the body ; white spots on wings more regular tliau in the adult, forming two 
parallel diagonal series, following the order of the coverts ; bill dark brown. 
Varieties. Examples from different localities present slight but uniform differences of plumage. Specimens 
from the Nelson district are, on comparison with those from the north side of Cook's Strait, invariably 
found to be more largely marked with white around the eyes and on the feathers surrounding the bill. 
As we proceed further south the variation is still more apparent, the whole plumage partaking of a lighter 
character. There is also considerable variation in size; and a specimen received by me from Mr. ~W. T. L. 
Travers is not only unusually small in all its proportions, but has the whole of the plumage deeply stained 
with ferruginous. A beautiful albino was shot at Te Whauwhau (Wliangarei) in the winter of 1871. 
In Mr. J. C. Firth’s fine collection of New-Zealand birds, at Mount Eden, Auckland, there is a beauti- 
ful specimen (obtained at Coromandel) in partial albino plumage. The whole of the body is marked w'ith 
white, presenting a mottled appearance, and particularly so on the underparts, where the white is softly 
blended with the normal tawny colour, producing a very pretty effect ; each wing has two white primaries, 
but the tail-feathers are as in ordinary examples. 
Every New-Zealand colonist is familiar with this little Owl, under the name of “ Morepork” *. It 
is strictly a nocturnal species, retiring by day to the dark recesses of the forest, or hiding in the 
crevices of the rocks, and coming abroad soon after dusk to hunt for rats, mice, and the various kinds 
of moths and beetles that fly at night. It is common in all parts of the country, although not so 
numerous now as it formerly was ; and the familiar cry from which it derives its popular name may 
often be heard in the more retired parts of our principal towns, as well as in the farmer’s country 
home or in the rustic Maori “ kainga ” : I have even known several instances of its voluntarily taking 
up its abode in a settler’s house or, more frequently, in the barn, and remaining there a considerable 
time. 
When discovered in its hiding-place during the day, it is found sitting upright, with the head 
drawn in, the eyes half closed, and the feathers of the body raised, making the bird appear much 
larger than it really is. It will then allow a person to approach within a few yards of it, and, if 
disturbed, will fly off noiselessly for a short distance and attempt to secrete itself. It will often 
* “ This bird gave rise to rather an amusing incident in the Hutt Valley during the time of the fighting with ITamaku and 
Rangihaeata, and when, in anticipation of a morning attack, a strong piquet was turned out regularly about an hour before day- 
light. On one occasion the men had been standing silently under arms for some time, and shivering in the cold morning air, 
when they wore startled by a solemn request for ‘ more pork.’ The officer in command of the piquet, who had only very recently 
arrived in the country, ordered no talking in the ranks, which was immediately replied to by another demand, distinctly enunciated, 
for ‘ more pork.’ So malapropos a remark produced a titter along the ranks, which roused the irate officer to the necessity of 
having his commands obeyed, and he accordingly threatened to put the next person under arrest who dared make any allusion to 
the unclean beast. As if in defiance of the threat, and in contempt of the constituted authorities, ‘ more pork ’ was distinctly 
demanded in two places at once, and was succeeded by an irresistible giggle from one end of the line to the other. There was 
no putting up with such a breach of discipline as this, and the officer, in a fury of indignation, went along the line in search of 
the mutinous offender, when suddenly a small chorus of ‘ more pork ’ was heard on all sides, and it was explained who the real 
culprits were. 
“ At the attack in the Bay of Islands by Heke and Tvawiti, the native partieB, in moving to their positions about the block- 
houses and town before daybreak, communicated their whereabouts to one another by imitating the cry of this bird, which the 
sentries had been so accustomed to hear of a morning that it did not attract their notice.” (Captain Power’s ‘ Sketches in New 
Zealand,’ 1849.) 
2 C 
