The Parrakeets 
193 
makes something of the fact that ‘ ‘ at the Foxton Railway Station 
there used to be a tame parrakeet that had learned to say ‘Be 
quick! ’. 77 but it learned it from no human teacher, seeing 
it is one of its common natural calls, which Buller could hardly 
fail to have heard. He also mentions another vocalization, 
which I have not heard yet,—“.the parrakeet chased its 
mate through the tree tops with sharp cries of ‘twenty-eight 7 ; 
.” (BN, Vol. 1 , p. 14). Probably the Australian bird of a 
similar species, known as the twenty-eight, received its name 
from its call. In the vocalization Pretty Dick, the d was sounded 
as if the bird were slightly tongue-tied. These calls are com¬ 
bined to form a kind of song or recitative, as in (4). 
The sounds were very like the commands of some irritable 
officer drilling a squad of awkward recruits,— Do be quick ; do 
be quick; Eyes right dress, Tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tut, Do be quick. 
The approximation of the notes to speech appealed to the 
Maori, and there is a conversational song or fable invented by 
them for the kiore (rat) and parrakeet, under the name 
Pouwhaitere: 
Kiore and Pouwhaitere. 
Pou. E kiore, ka piki taua ki runga. 
Ki. Kei te aha taua i runga? 
Pou. Ki te kai pua rakau. 
Ki. E aha te pua rakau? 
Pou. He miro, he kahikatea. 
Ki. E tama ra e—ko te whaka- 
ruarua i a taua; e 
tama ra—e—e haere mai 
nei te tangata, e ronarona 
nei i te kaki, torete te 
wai au, ti mau rawa. 
Rat and Parrakeet. 
Par. O rat! let us climb up above. 
Rat What shall we do up there? 
Par. Eat the fruits of the trees. 
Rat What kind of fruits? 
Par. That of the miro and kahikatea. 
Rat My friend, both our tribes 
are diminishing; man comes and twists 
your neck, torete te wai (the 
imitation of a bird’s cry of pain) 
and as for me, I shall be caught in 
his snare. 
Moial: IN o escape from the power of man. 
