THE KOTUKU.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2043, 18 October 1919, Page 4

THE KOTUKU.

T!:<; appearance of it white crane (Khtuku.) in Fusion has c.-i’oaled a good deal of outside interest. .A writer in the N;Z. Times says-;— t “We have a!! hoard the .w.ellS;no\vn I%eml tliiit. e soc hut one in a lifetime.” .Up to the present that has been my experience, though I have rambled about the colony Horn south'to north. In 18(52 I was camped.on the north side of Lake Ellesmere, near the sea, lor some weeks, and as wo peered out of the tent-flap in early morning we could see the bird quite close, though as timid its a mouse. In the mists of the morning he loomed up like a miller with a yellow cap. We concluded that it was the same bird_wc saw, as it was in the same spot. In Christchurch-recently I was conversing with a . gentleman who has been familiar with the hike for over thirty years, but has not seen one, and does not think (hey can visit the lake now, or he would certainly see one. Hence my surprise that it should make its . appearance in a well-settled district . like Foxton. One would like to hear more about it and its location, as lorly years ago I was well acquainted with the Manawatu, and ' did no! see one there, and might like to see it I could falsity the legend. Tins has no reference to specimens in mfiscmns, where you ean see the whole* range of avifauna.'’ A member of the Times stall says he saw one of these birds in 1880 (March) by the sine of Lake Mahiuapaa, near.Hokitika. Mr Pereival R. Waddy, of Wellington, , writes interestingly on the same subject. in the Dominion, He )Su sparingly dues the ‘while wane' or dm! aim oi. (m - Maoris make iis appearance in New Zealand that Tare as the kotuku’ Ims become a NaCve prove ;: b; indeed, it lias been alleged itial this remarkable bird appears in (he North Island mily once in a hie lime (‘He kolnku rerenga lain - ), so the people of Foxloa have s..me reason to tee! elated upon (he honour ol a visit, and a brief description oi the beautiful bird, and some reference to it may be of more than usual interest at the present rime. Although locally known as the ‘white'crane,' the bird is not, strictly speaking, a crane, hut a heron, and the natural history books 'refer to it as the ‘white heron,’ or, . technically, as Ardoa egret!a. The whole of the plumage is snowy while. Ihe e\e.--are 'yellow, the lorn l’s kin being of greenish vc!low. The bid is bright veiiow, though it has occasionally been found brownish coloured. Ihe lees are black, the joints being tinged with yellow. • Its length is 40 inches. The, extent of its wing- is 5J A inches. ‘ The bill mea-ures live inches along the ridge, the lower maudahle being (if inches in length. The middle toe and claw are 4; inches long, toe land toe and claw being 2 : f inches hi length, ihe ‘while crane’ is a stalely bird, and, as it stalks about its haunts or in shallow water, its beautiful snow-white plumage renders it a very striking and conspicuous object. L frequents swampy area-, and feeds on (els and freshwater lisli. The bml is naiuially timid and shy, and it is difficult to gain near access to U. The til's 1 recorded specimen in New Zealand was seen at Whangaroa (Raglan) in 1853. Another was shot at Hurley’s mill reservoir near Wellington in .ISdtb in I.BoS one made its appearance in' the Wairarapa, and in 1850 Timaru waswisited by at least one adult bird which fella victim to powder and shot. Whangape Lake, Lower Waikato, was favoured by a visit from a -pair in 1804, and in i. 865 a pair also paid a visit: of several weeks’ dural) on to Whangnrei. The (listnet at the mouth of the M.aketu River as well as the banks of the Waihi were similarly favoured m 1807. The beautiful plumage of. this remarkable bird has always been prized by the Maoris, and the Maori folk-lore is full of reference to it. (Vide ‘ L’bo Lament for Te Hiakai,’ iu Sir Clcs onm Orev’s ‘Poetry of IheAew Zealanders/page 102). Although so rarely found in New Zealand, there is probably no other bird so widely distributed throughout the globe. The white heron is common in Indi.a and the northern, .purls of Ceylon. 1( is found throughout China. It extends from tire Malay Archipelago through many of the South Fneilie islands to Australia (on the eastern side) as far as Tasmania. It has even been found in Siberia, it. is common in Asia Minor, and occasionally visits Palestine and Greece. A\s a, -straggler it has been seen in the British" Isles.’’