MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 November 1938, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

WATER BIRDS.

(Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”)

Several varieties of the duck family were common in New Zealand, but long before the game laws were introduced most of them were almost extinct. The common name “parera” was applied to them by the Maoris. “Rukuhia” was the name given to the small divers, whose safety lay in the capacity to remain submerged for three minutes. They could not fly from the water, when hunted by the Maoris in a small canoe. To avoid being struck on the head when they came up, they hid the small beak among the water weeds or under the bilge of the canoe to breathe. The grey and the. black teal, the brown duck, •“Patetq” (to glide), and the blue mountain duck, “Whio” (the whistler) were valued for their oily flesh. There were five species of rail known as mohopereru (the silly one), Macquarie, Mangare, Dieffenbach’s, and Auckland Islands. Only when in danger do they fly, and then only for a short distance. They live on water weeds, and swallow dry sand to aid digestion. The Bittern “Mataku” or “Matuku” (shy) has almost disappeared because of the swamps being drained. The plover “Kukuruatu” is almost extinct. The three species of Snipe are confined to unfrequented islands where they are as tame as domestic fowls, and have no fear of men. In flight they are defective, and when rising from the ground they zigzag just like the European snipe, showing that while separated by many thousand miles all sprang from the same source.