Morepork for Long Life.

The same old colonial hand just quoted is full of bird-lore garnered from the Maori and from pakeha oldtimers like himself. “Did you ever hear tell,” he asked, “about the morepork and its value as a life-lengthener? It's a true bill among some of the Maoris. Up at Ketemarae, in Taranaki, we once had a bullock driver by the name of Jimmy Simmonds, who had a Maori wife. I was out with old Jimmy one day when he shot a morepork. ‘Surely you don't eat the Ruru!’ I said. ‘Oh no’ said Jimmy, ‘but my old missus does. All the women eat the ruru when they can get one; they believe it prolongs their lives. My missus will go to bed quite happy after a feed of morepork”’ But any ruru-slaying today must be done strictly sub rosa, for the bird is on the absolutely protected list, and rightly so.