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Forest Lore of the Maori

The Kotuku or White Heron:

The Kotuku or White Heron:

The kotuku or white heron (Herodais timoriensis) is another bird that may be excluded from the list of game birds, i.e., of food supplies of the Maori in Pre-European days; it was, however, like the huia, highly prized by the natives on account of it providing plumes that were sought far and wide. Williams gives whaitiri as a name for white feathers of this heron, and Colenso gives whaitiripapa as denoting the larger feathers, plumes of the bird, hikurangi as the extreme wing feathers, while meremere is applied to some other feathers of the bird used for decorative purposes. Williams states that the white feathers of heron and albatross are styled awe; Matatua natives told me that awe kotuku are graceful and fine feathers that overlie the tail-feathers of this bird. Tatara, titapu, kapu and kira are other names that were applied to certain plumes of this bird. It is as well to mention here that women were not allowed to wear the more highly-prized plumes, and they were sedulously taught that, should they presume to do so, then assuredly all their hair would fall off, and so leave them bald-headed before the jeering populace. Again, should a man wearing heron-plumes be included page 342in a number of men partaking of a meal, then no woman was allowed to join the group, unless the plume-wearer was considerate enough to lay his decoration aside. The titapu plumes are said to have been looked upon as being tapu objects.

The kotuku is said to have frequented Porirua harbour in former times, and I believe that I saw one on a sandbank at Kenepuru in 1863 or 1864, but my description of it did not lead to my acquiring the name of the bird. Some remote places are mentioned by natives as having been its breeding-places in olden days; thus the Manuoha lagoon, situated in a wild tract of bush-country lying between Maungapohatu and Lake Waikare-iti, is mentioned as such a place. Waikare-iti itself, a lone, forest-shrouded place, seldom visited by man, was another such haunt, as also was the Kaipo lagoon at the head of the Mokau stream flowing into Waikare-moana.

These birds are rarely seen nowadays, and, apparently, were never numerous, as is shown by the following old sayings: He kotuku rerenga tahi, and He kotuku taunga kotahi. These sayings refer to the kotuku as a bird of a single flight, and of a single alighting, and they are quoted to this day when a rare visitor arrives. I have, on several occasions, heard our Governors of New Zealand so described, when visiting native districts. In the saying: He kotuku ki te rangi, he kakapo ki te whenua,* I know not what the former bird has to do with the heavens, though the kakapo is well known as a lowly earth-dweller. In yet another saying: He kotuku kai whakaata, he parera apu paru, the kotuku and duck are said to be described as dainty and gross feeders, respectively. The heron passes much of its time Standing in shoal water and apparently gazing into the water, hence the phrase kai whakaata, but these words scarcely convey the meaning of dainty feeding.

* (A white heron in the heavens, a ground-parrot on earth.)