Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Forest Lore of the Maori

The Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris):

The Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris):

Here we have a bird that was highly prized by the Maori in olden times; it furnished him with no appreciable food-supply, but it provided him with decorative plumes upon which a high value was placed. These black plumes, tipped with white, were passed from tribe to tribe by means of barter, and so reached the far north, and also the South Island. The fact that there are twelve of these valued feathers in the tail of the huia is stressed by the Maori; Taylor recorded the number as four, while Dieffenbach in his report says 'twelve or fourteen.' Our Maori people had a curious regard for the number 12, a fact that Fornander noted as pertaining to Polynesians generally. Thus we are told that it was arranged in remote times that Rona should control the movements of the moon, and so regulate them that there should be twelve appearances of the new moon during the year. It was also arranged that to the koko (or tui, a forest bird (Prosthemadera novae-zealandiae) should be entrusted the care of this number, and so the mystic ngahuru ma rua, or 'ten and two' was affixed to that bird's throat in the form of the twelve white feathers of his kumikumi or 'choker.' Then Huru-te-arangi was requested to attach the same sign of the twelve ages to the huia, and so we see that bird ever carrying the number of the twelve periods of prenatal birth, as known in far distant ages when the primal offspring who preceded mortal man entered the world of life.

The range of this bird was a very limited one, a fact that added to the value of the white-tipped plumes. It was found on the Ruahine, Tararua, Puketoi, Rimutaka, and Orongorongo ranges, with their offshoots and flanking spurs. They were formerly found on the Pukeatua ridge, over which the road from the Hutt to Wainui-o-mata passes, and Wakefield teils us that one was killed on the hill above the right bank of the Korokoro stream on the west side of the Hutt Valley. This is the only case in which I have heard of the huia being seen west of the Hutt Valley; it seems to have avoided Porirua persistently as did the beech-tree. Dieffenbach was mistaken in saying that this bird was found m the South Island.

I have often wondered if the huia formerly frequented the Tinakori Range at Wellington, inasmuch as Pae-huia {huia ridge) is an old page 180place-name on the summit of the range just east of the wireless peak, Otari.

Mr. Charles Kilsby, an early settler in the Forty-mile bush, told us that he saw many huia there prior to the destruction of the bush. He explained that one might pass quite near to these birds without seeing them, as they kept very close when a person was moving about. If one sat down and kept quiet for a time, and then whistled in a certain manner, then huia would come to the lure as kaka do to a decoy. In some cases they would approach almost close enough to be caught by hand. They build a nest like that of a pigeon, and in a similar Situation; they lay two eggs and breed at the time that supple-jack berries are ripe. In 1910 a Maori told us that there were still some huia in a certain rugged area of forest. In 1895 I caught one when ascending the Tararua range from the Wai-o-tauru stream, and fifteen were caught during the Boer War by natives, while from 1909 to 1911 three were caught at a certain place. Now we are told that it is extinct! Quien sabe?

What appears to be a simple folk tale is to the effect that the huia was a pet of one Tautu who released it on the Tararua range; this pointless tale is referred to in song:—

  • "Te huia i Tararua, e, te toroa i te moana
  • Kia pai atu koe te haere hei powhiri mai kei a matua."

And again:—

  • "Taringa i whakarongo ki te kohimuhimu
  • Te mokai a Tautu, naumai, haere ki te whare pora i a Hungahunga
  • Kai mana ai to rerenga e tioro nei."

The taking of the huia was by no means a difficult Performance, for it had either a bold, simple, or trustful nature. The usual method employed was the luring of the bird by means of a whistled imitation of its call, to which, according to Heaphy, was added 'a guttural croak.' By this means the birds could be induced to approach close to the whistler, who does not seem to have concelaed himself, and then it was easily caught by means of slipping a running noose over its head, the same being attached to the end of a rod, the noose and method being described by the term tari, This description of the capture, given by Maori folk, is corroborated by many recorded Statements. The one caught by myself on the slopes of Tararua was taken in a somewhat novel manner, inasmuch as I caught it by hand without any form of lure, vocal or otherwise. A surveyor who carried on his activities on that same range teils us that he caught five huia one day by the tari method, and that they came round him page 181'to look at the theodolite.' They were sometimes simply Struck down with a rod when they came close to the fowler. Hori Ropiha of Waipawa stated that it was quite possible to take the whole of a ta huia or flock of huia, even if there were five or six; I am not aware that they move about in such flocks, though they do appear to seek food in pairs. Colenso stated that he had seen huia and kotuku kept in cages by Maori folk; of the former so treated he wrote that the bird was "kept in a large light cage of network for the sake of its tail feathers, which were plucked as they arrived at maturity." Crawford mentions seeing a tarne huia at a hantlet in the Forty-mile bush.

The following account of the native method of preserving the skin of the huia was recorded by Sir W. Buller in the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute, vol. 8: "The bird is skinned, leaving both mandibles as well as the wattles attached, but both wings and legs removed. The skin is stretched by three small sticks, placed one above the other, and stuck on a forked stick inserted in the ground in front of a fire; the inside of the skin is turned towards the fire so as to dry the skin ready for packing; the tail is carefully bent back behind so as not to dirty the white tips of the feathers. When dried, the under side of the quills of the tail feathers are cut away carefully, so as to render the feathers more flexible. A piece of totara bark, about two feet long and five feet wide, is prepared and bent double in the middle, the ends being rounded off. The dried skins, with the tail feathers bent over the back as dried, are placed between these thin pieces of bark, and are then ready for being sent away to the Waikato and Taupo country, where they are most valuable articles of exchange …. I ascertained that over 600 skins were procured last year (1874) from the back ranges of the Wellington Province by the natives."

Among the folk-tales, popular stories and beliefs, puerile fancies, etc., beloved of the Maori are some quaint ideas concerning the introduction of some of our birds. We have all heard that ancestors of the Maori brought hither the pukeko, also that a huge bird carried hither a passenger and certain freight from the isles of Polynesia in long-past times. The Matatua folk impress upon us the fact that the vessel ofthat name brought two tieke (Creadion) birds to this land; while not to be outdone, some Takitumu enthusiasts claim that their particular vessel brought hither the koekoea, horirerire, huia, kokako and kuaka. As to why the first and last named, both annual traversers of vast ocean spaces, needed such assistance to reach these shores is not explained. Says one informant: "The huia is the bird of Whaitiri, and it was brought hither on board Takitumu, ven as Rauwharo brought the kokako."

page 182

Yate, in his Account of New Zealand (1835) seems to have started the idea of the four tau feathers of the huia. Polack, Thomson and Taylor probably copied him; in like manner we can trace back to Yate the Statement that the bird was found "in the mountainous districts of Taranaki," where no one seems to have seen or heard of it since. Many vague and irresponsible Statements have been published concerning the huia, about it having been seen at Taranaki, at Raglan, at Maunga-taniwha, at Castle Point, and elsewhere; in one case these huia turned out to be crows, in other cases they persistently eluded observation.