The Pukeko

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 32, 26 August 1886, Page 3

The Pukeko

The Ohristcburoh Press waxes sentimental over this robber and says : •— We have always thought that the jjukaJd never quite bad justice dons t>y him ; he has always beeii kept outside the protection of the law and could be shot down at any time like an outlaw, whereas he has, in fact many amiable qualities. To begin with, he is one of the prettiest of Our native birds, with his pert tail and fine blue plumage. He is very good shooting in .the intervals when tho ducks are not coming i-ound as we should like them ; and (here, we think, we shall touch a chord of. sympathy in many of our readers) he makes an excellent stew, especially when he comes from the hands of those who know how to cook him. It is true the farmers have something to aay about the way he pulls up the tender "blades of their wheat as they appear above the ground, but it has always seemed to us to fee carrying the law too far t© make that a capital crime. The pukaki is well entitled to his close season, and the proclamation in tbe "Gazette" is only rendering him tardy justice. — The Press might have spelled the name better.