THE NEW ZEALAND PARSON BIRD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 133, 3 July 1909, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND PARSON BIRD.

STORIES OF THE TUI. Mr. W..W. Smith, curator of Pukekura Park", New Plymouth, recently wrote to the London Spectator as follows: Vjir,—ln the excellent review of Mr. Lea's new work, - 'ihe Komunce ot Bird L fc,' published in the literary supplement to viie spectator of November 7th, 11108, yum reviewer stated: 'But the past-master in the art of playing the fool is the parson bird of New Zealand.' My copy of Mr. Lea's book not being to hand, 1 cannot refer to his notes on our native tui, or parson bird. The reviewer, however, has aptly and accurately expressed one phase of the nature of this classic merrymaker of the NewZealand forests.' From a remote period the Maoris have caged and tanght the tui (pronounced "too-ec") as merr.vmakers.in their kaingas or villages. The well-trained birds were generally the property of the chiefs, ■who kept them suspended in iront of their finely-carved houses, and prized them highly. When the young birds were able to feed themselves, they were taken and suspended close to a waterfall, where they heard 30 other sound but the voice of the teacher shoutiug aloud the words or sentence he desired to teach them. Judging from my own experiences- with these charming birds in captivity, it must have been a tedious, and at times a time-killing process. The Maoris, however, aver that it was a quicker and , surer method of teaching the young tuis than the one alternative of confining them in a lonely and silent whare or house until they finished their 'schooling.' But before the training began, cither by the noisy waterfall or in the silent whare, the birds had to submit to a little ceremony. Being honeyeaters, they have a tongue furnished with a very fine hair brush, which they use in removing the nectar from the forest flowers on which they chiefly subsist during the spring and summer months. To enable the birds to 'talk' better, the Maoris have for ages; practised the habit of clipping this minute brush off their tongues. To me, the tui's natural ability to 'speak' or sing is not improved by the process. A lady residing in Wanganui possesses a fine male which she took from a nest in Kaiiwi bush and reared and taught it herself. The bird whistles the first bar of 'Coming through the Bye' and calls 'Haeremai' (Come here) perfectly without the 'feather' foeing removed from its tongue. Numerous additional cases could be cited proving the tui's perfect ability to repeat both English, and Maori sentences and whistle English and Maori songs without loss of ; the tongue feather. "With a view to noting and recording accurately all phases in the earlier transitional stages of plumage of both sexes of young parson birds, and, if possible, also to procure full and perfect gramophone records of their melodious, resonant, and varied notes and calls, I procured and reared two nests of them this aeaion. Both were built on strong limbs ofPinug iusignis, which, I maynote, are the only instances known to • me of tuis building their nests in any introduced species of pine-tree. For the first fifteen days they are gentle and contented nestlings, and feed freely from the hand, The plumage is jet-black, with a rich purplish iridescence, which, _with tfiej bright orange-colored fleshy core of the mouth, render them conspicuous and beautiful objects in their nest. After leaving their nest at about fifteen days old, they become impatient and noisy, with a rapidly increasing appetite. I have attended to them regularly myself, and when approaching them have invariably whistled in imitation some buglelike notes, which greatly excite them and bring tliem skipping and screaming over the floor of their Muse to the door to be fed. At from lour to five weeks old they are able to feed themselves, and become very active on their perches. A fortnight later they begin playing the fool' by quarrelling, whilst each at times indulges in curious individual antics. The 'white choker - the tuft of long white silky feathers which grows on and adorns the front of the neck—now begins to appear, and is 101 l grown and perfect when they arc five months old. 'Tlaying the fool' at the age of six or seven weeks also consists of raising and rapidly fluttering tne wings, meanwhile screaming and slapping in concert on tiptoe along their over the floor of their house. ihey now also begin to exercise and train and, tune their young voices. When tang engaged every feather is ruffled, the wings drooped, and the whole bodv is !■ active motion. Some of the piccolo"lik« notes, uttered in their first efforts ,lo sing are very fine, and increase in volume and tone more dav by dar The rich, resonant tolling notes reverter ating through the forests attain their full volume of sound with the development of the neck plumes, when thev may be said to have attained to .'hol*v orders. Their vivacity and versatility, together with the exceptionally keen i gift of mimicry, which they now "display i r H P9 not e l«a"«4'by any known i species of passerine bird. Of the six birds I reared I liberated three, and have i ,J \ th £ e fine ; voiced mal <*, with i Si™" * h °P e t0 obta " good Whl °? Z^^ 68 * havc mentioned. When not feeding or sleeping, they arc 3te S ' y and hukig 1 and fooling wiQi each other. s

toT* T j ? g ? f the lon g-tMled cuckoo > tl™T m .?p'. d ev ? r y from the warmer Polynesian islands is a great source of trouble to the parson Wrd • The cuckoo's attempts to steal the tui's <ggs and substitute its own are conw? t& be a ! eiious crime b .y ««• {J*. The moment a cuckoo is sighted tfte tui s war-aote is sounded, with the muft that all its kindred mar Z fly in hot pursuit of the invader. Early in December last I observed three tuis - -'buup a cuckoo acrTss , laif n direction ef a large •pine-tree. The tancT*.? 10 "' ra ? id flight s l°* «*"* iheta.,fh PUrS i" ng J t T °» "aching gnc tree the cuckoo dashed through the oi the tree swiftly rose at an acute . angle and took refuge almost on the™ p ° f «» ""• Tjle excited tuis fpl ow n ! da hed to and fro amongst the branches n tcrmg angry notes to no. purpo » Thus..the hokeperoa of the Maori during its annual sojourn in New Zealand sev |™L t " n "»W deceives and makes look of the tuis— real fools. "In addition to playing the fool in al ■most ever/ conceivable way, the ™r=o<; oirdg occasionally play the 'clown' ven ItlX - y - . perch in captivity, they at times swin'! -once or twice round the perch'as if indulging in trapeze exercise. At otln-r times they may be seen with one wia'» ns if mutating some graceful lady nerforme r on a tightrope. There is „„ question!but that the natural habii" ; ■ and antics of the New Zealand parson S„ a T r . en,ar T 1? ? ble ' an * q"«e -unique -among birds. I\ m g i„ d £ stat J as the glorious native forests disaimc, as ope of the inevitable results of settle- ?„!? '" ?., nc "' CoUntl J'. the charming and sprightly tui feels the change "v than some othc r species do, and Hn"ers longest in,, or conies fro m the disfaul 2if to ' R arJ ons'where the more richly melliferous trees are in bloom. Their melodious and far-echoing notes -ire frequently heard in many of-the'preth . gardens in New Plymouth. That th-v /< way fcelcun? heard here and throughout ; the land is the wish of all lovers- of \e" VW*" remarkable aml ""'.que native