The Parrakeets 
195 
proper tune, is very facetious, especially to a Maori. 7 ’ (Tr., 
Yol. 13, 1881, p. 72). 
The bird has given rise to a proverb, He kakariki kai ata — 
“The parrakeet eats very early in the morning”—applied to a 
greedy fellow, who begins to eat directly he awakes, instead of 
going to his work. The Maori was accustomed to getting several 
hours’ work done before breakfast until he was taught better. 
Of the ten Maori names collected (WJ, p. 200), the name 
commonly used is kakariki. This is also the name of the colour 
green, and some suppose the name to have been given on account 
of the predominant colour of the bird. The name may, however, 
be echoic; the notes certainly have often a similarity to the 
sound kakariki. It is perhaps less likely that this form is derived 
from kaka, the brown parrot,—kakariki meaning the little kaka 
(riki or iti = small), though there is also the form kakapo, 
the night-kaka, applied to the green parrot. 
Evidence of the echoic nature of the Maori names is given in 
the name by which the bird is known to some of the modern 
young Europeanized Maori. They call it the footballer, partly 
because of its green jersey, but more particularly because of its 
constant cry “Free kick!—free kick!” —a cry which may often 
be heard instead of “Be quick”! or “Pretty Dick.” The ever- 
ready abounding humour of the Maori appears in this name. 
The green of the plumage is a most beautiful colour, especially 
when seen in sunlight. One summer day as I lay in Te rere, a 
craggy valley in Kapiti, a parrakeet alit on a sunlit branch a 
few feet distant immediately before and above me; he paid no 
attention to my presence, but after preening his feathers, and 
chuckling as if over some pleasant recollection, he extended 
first one wing, then the other, holding them pointed slantingly 
downwards in the hot sunshine. The colour seemed almost 
living, so luminous was it,—like his bright eyes as he looked 
about the tree and fern-fresh rocky valley where we sat, no 
sound disturbing the serenity save the singing of broken waters, 
the murmur of the sea below, and occasional bird-calls borne 
from the green recesses of the steeply-rising spurs. 
