At the same time the Maori was an expert at bushcraft and at bush-fighting. He could lay ambushes with anyone; he could exercise patience where needed, and he could move through dense bush and fern with stealth and silence. I well remember the description two elderly men gave me of the way shags were caught in Canterbury in the early days, and it reminded me of the accounts of Redskins creeping through the long prairie grass to attack an enemy. Briefly put, the description was as follows:—“The mapua, or big black shag, had his home in the cliffs, but if a wind like a sou'-wester blew hard into his home he betook himself to the patiti (tussocks) and camped there for the time being. This was our chance and we took it—if it was moonlight. The man who saw where they had settled would say to his companions, ‘Haere mai ki te patu koau' (come to the shag-killing) and off we would go. One of us would creep forward and reconnoitre the position to see if the tutei (the sentry bird—a human scout is a tutoro) was watchful and ready to give the oho or alarm call. If he was he would wait patiently or crawl back to the others and have a nap, but if it was asleep or nodding he would stealthily sneak up to it and grab it quickly and silently in such a way that it could neither utter its cry nor flap its wings. Then he twisted its neck. Upon receiving this information we all crept and crawled toward the sleeping birds. If this was silently done and each man took his bird skilfully we would get a good hauh Like most web-footed birds, the shag sleeps wit its head under its wing, and the art was to quietly overpower it without disturbing its neighbours, and then to move on to the next one. If any man's page 42 page 43 hand slipped or he was awkward or fumbling, the bird would let out a squawk (which my informants imitated) and the flock would take flight.” Other instances could be given of the Maori ability for secrecy of movement, but I can recall no instance of tracking.