139 
The Honey-eaters : The Tui 
But here,” says my correspondent, “the bird recedes into the 
region of the oracular and the mythical. 
Henry Stowe! 1 states that when the tui chorus is to be sung, 
the signal is made by the female. “In a tui-grove a little after 
four in the afternoon, the quietness is suddenly broken by the 
female tui uttering kru-u-ru-u-ru, after the^ manner of an in¬ 
drawn gurgle. There is then perfect silence for a few moments, 
and she begins the same gurgle again. The very instant that 
she makes the second beginning every male, and no doubt 
female, tui in the grove bursts into a wonderful wealth of 
tui-harmony. Folk may speak of the delights of an early 
morning concert. There is largely an outside element in such, 
for every bird in the woods contributes its part towards that 
universal hymn to the sun, or to the god of day. But foi 
pure tui music nothing can possibly compare to this evening - 
song; no other birds join in. As to solo singing, as far as my 
experience goes the same may be said. The most beautiful solo 
that I ever heard from the throat of a male tui, was an after¬ 
noon solo. I listened for upwards of half an hour to that 
glorious melody. I gathered that he was singing for a mate. 
He was quite alone in a detached piece of bush, on the topmost 
branch of a decayed pukatea tree, some sixty feet high. I 
have never heard an afternoon-chorus, even on Kapiti where 
the birds are in great numbers, and where the morning-songs 
were recorded. 
The tui has been called the Maori barometer; for from the 
variations in his song it is said that the Maori was able to 
foretell the weather. I have not heard any details of the 
various prophesying. 
The Maori name of the tui shews little variation: the bird 
is known practically throughout the islands as tui. The names 
parson-bird and mocking-bird, given by early colonists on 
account of its appearance and its powers of mimicry, have 
both given way to the Maori name. The following are hardly 
variants; they are names given to the two sexes, or to the bird 
in different stages of growth, or for difference in condition 
