isjrvoic, XVQlS ■fcli.e x>T*e—-pa.KeTnL5i>, fashion. In h*iolcPT»o«r».fl 
77ie Warblers : The Tom-tits 
63 
however, to the cheery whistling song of the warbler, (No. 7) ; 
and, indeed, when I first recorded that song I noted it as the 
song of an nnseen bird awaiting identification. Some time 
afterwards, from the tree whence I again heard the song, there 
flew together a warbler and a tit, and Bnller, in the place 
quoted, speaks of these two birds singing together in the one 
bush. It was two years after this that I actually saw the 
warbler singing the unidentified song. 
Of the sixteen Maori names recorded (WJ, p. 198), the two 
most commonly used are miromiro and ngirungiru. The former 
name appears in the proverb “ Ma te kanohi miromiro” (For 
the eye of the miromiro) (Tr. Vol. 12, p. 119, and GK, p. 66 ), 
used as a stimulus to a person searching for anything lost. 
But there might indeed be something lost for which all the 
searching of the loser might be in vain;—a husband, or a wife, 
or a lover;—and to these the miromiro would appear as a 
messenger of love. An obdurate youth, an unwilling maiden, 
might flee to a distant village in order to escape the unaccept¬ 
able advances or the reproaches of a lover; or a husband might 
desert his wife 5 or a wife her husband. If then it happened 
that a bird largely marked with white such as the miromiro 
of the North Island appeared to the runaway, more especially 
if it entered the dwelling where the desired one had sought 
refuge, love entered with it; and thereupon the runaway, no 
matter what the hour, would be so filled with the image of the 
absent one that all resistance would melt away; and though 
rivers and mountains and wild ways lay between, there would 
be such a spell at work that the fugitive must at once return, 
when all distress would be ended. 
Another proverb said “Pipitori nga kanohi, kokotaia nga 
waeivcie, whenua i mamao, tenei rawa,” (If you have eyes sharp 
as pipitori (tom-tit, though Grey translates it robin) with which 
to see a long distance, and sharp quick feet, distant places will 
soon seem near to you) (GK, p. 81). 
In pure white birds the Maori saw some occult manifesta¬ 
tion. The bright children of the sky were the souice of light 
and life, as darkness was the source of death ; and as the sun 
