44 
Bird-Song : and New Zealand Song Birds 
rattling sound, accompanied by a spreading of the tail, and 
apparently expressive of ecstasy. Some of the notes are 
scarcely distinguishable from those of the yellow-liead; and I 
am inclined to think that the bird is endowed with mocking- 
powers. The ordinary note, however, of the pio-pio, whence 
it derives its name, is a short, sharp, whistling cry, quickly 
repeated.” Writing of a captive thrush, he said, “.He 
often astonished me with the power and variety of his notes. 
Commencing sometimes with the loud strains of the thrush, he 
would suddenly change his song to a low flute-note of exquisite 
sweetness; and then abruptly stopping, would give vent to a 
loud rasping cry, as if mimicking a pair of Australian magpies 
confined in the same aviary. During the early morning he 
emitted at intervals a short flute-note, and when alarmed or 
startled uttered a sharp repeated whistle.” 
When Buller says he is inclined to ascribe mocking powers 
to the bird because some of its notes resemble those of the 
yellow-head, he apparently forgets that the yellow-head is 
confined to the South Island, and the thrush whose song he is 
describing to the North, so that imitation is out of the question. 
There is, too, a good deal of sameness in his description of the 
quality of the song of the various birds, so that one is inclined 
to doubt the discrimination of his ear;—in fact, when I have 
become acquainted with birds whose song he describes, I have 
come to the conclusion that he either did not know their song 
at all, or took his description from hearsay. 
Of the four Maori names recorded (WJ, p. 198), the one 
commonly in use is the echoic name pio-pio. The name occurs 
in a Maori proverb,— Pio-pio wirunga nga tan ko Matatua te 
waka, (The pio-pio came on the bow of the Matatua)—one of the 
original canoes from the mysterious Hawaiki (TI, p. 403). 
Whilst this book was in the press I have seen a long article “Der Amselgesang und seine Beziehung 
zu unsrer Musik ” by Cornel Schmitt and Hans Stadler, in 49 Bericht der Senckenbergischen Natur- 
forschenden Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, Heft 1, 2nd August, 1919. These writers were 
evidently studying the song of the blackbird whilst I was studying the songs of our New Zealand 
birds, and they pay tribute to his artistry. They give scores of themes in our musical notation, and 
credit the bird with artistry and invention of a high order. I must say, too, that after a lecture in 
New Plymouth in March, 1926, I was told by an English immigrant of about two years’ standing that 
she had noticed what I said of the indefiniteness of the songs of the thrush and blackbird here in 
New Zealand, but that in England there was a definiteness of theme that is lacking here. There is 
perhaps a modification, a change, taking place in the song as in the habits of these birds. 
