THE NEW • ZEALAND PARSON BIRD- Pro THE Emon Or
Tits " SrIgOTATOR."3 Sin,—In the excellent review of Mr. Lea's new work, "The Romance of Bird Life," published in the literary supplement to the Spectator of Noveoaber 7th, 1908, your reviewer stated: "But the past-master in the art of playing the fool is the parson bird of New Zealand." My copy of Mr. Lea's book not being to hand, I cannot refer to his notes on our native tui, or parson bird. The reviewer, however, has aptly and accurately expressed one phase of the nature of this claesic merryt]eker of the New Zealand forests. From a remote period the Maoris have caged and taught the tui (pronounced " too-ee ") as merrymakers in their keingas or villages. The well-trained birds were generally the property of the chiefs, who kept them suspended in front of their finely carved houses, and prized them highly. When the young birds were able to feed themselves, they were taken and suspended close to a waterfall, where they heard no other sound but the voice of the teacher shouting aloud the words or sentence he desired to teach them. Judging from my own experiences with these charming birds in captivity, it must have been a tedious, and at times a time-killing process. The Maoris, however, aver that it was a quicker and surer method of teaching the young tuts than the one alternative of confining them in a lonely and silent whare or house until they finished their " scheoling." But before the training began, either by the noisy waterfall or in the silent where, the birds had to submit to a little ceremony. Being honey-eaters, they have a tongue furnished with a very fine hair brush, which they use in removing the nectar from the forest flowers on which they chiefly subaist during the spring and summer months. To enable the birds to "talk" better, the Maoris have for ages practised the habit of clipping this minute brush off their tongues. To me, the tul's natural ability to "speak" or sing is not improved by the process. A lady residing in Wanganui possesses a fine male which she took from a nest in Kai-iwi Bush and reared and taught it herself. The bird whistles the first bar of "Coming through the Rye" and calls "Haeremai " (Come here) perfectly without the "feather" being removed from its tongue. Numerous additional cases could be cited proving the tui's perfect ability to repeat both English and Maori sentences and whistle English and Maori songs without loss of the tongue feather.
With a view to noting and recording accurately all phases in the earlier transitional stages of plumage of both sexes of young parson birds, and, if possible, also to procure fall and perfect gramophone records of their melodious, resonant, and varied notes and calls, I procured and reared two nests of them this season. Both were built on strong limbs of Pitaus insignia, which, I may note, are the only instances known to me of tuis building their nests in any introduced species of
pine-tree. For the first fifteen days they are gentle and con. tented nestlings, and feed freely from the band. The plumage
is jet-black, with a rich purplish iridescence, which, with the
bright orange-coloured fleshy core of the mouth, render them conspicuous and beautiful objects in their nest. After leaving their nest at about fifteen days old, they become impatient
and noisy, with a rapidly increasing appetite. I have attended to them regularly myself, and when approaching them have
invariably whistled in imitation some buglelike notes, which greatly excite them, and bring them n skipping and screaming over the floor of their house to the door to be fed. At, from four to five weeks old they are able to feed themselves, and become very active on their perches. A fortnight later they begin "playing the fool" by quarrelling, whilst each at times indulges in curious individual antics. The "white chokerthe tuft of long white silky feathers which grow on and adorn the front of the neck—now begins to appear, and is full grown and perfect when they are five months old. " Playing the fool" at the age of six or seven weeks also (*mists of raising and rapidly fluttering the wings, mean- while screaming and skipping in concert on tiptoe along their perches or over the floor of their house. They now also begin to exercise and train and tune their young voice. When thus engaged every feather is ruffled, the wings drooped, and the whole body is in active motion. Some of the piccolo- like notes uttered in their first efforts to sing are very fine, and increase in volume and tone more day by day. The rich, resonant tolling notes reverberating through the forests attain their full volume of Bound with the development of the neck Plumes, when they may be said to have attained to "holy orders." The vivacity and versatility, together with the exceptionally keen gift of mimicry, which they now display are perhaps not equalled by any known species of passerine bird, Of the six birds I reared I liberated three, and have , kept three fine-voiced males, with which, with care, I hope to obtain good results on the lines I have mentioned. When not feeding or sleeping, they are continuously grimacing and .hustling and fooling with each other.
The coming of the long-tailed cuckoo to New Zealand every. springtime from the warmer Polynesian islands is a great source of trouble to the parson bird. The cuckoo's attempts to steal the tui'B eggs and substitute its own are considered to be a serious crime by the tuis. The moment a cuckoo is Bighted the tui's war-note is sounded, with the result that all its kindred near by fly in hot pursuit of the invader. Early in December last I observed three this chasing a cuckoo across a lake in the direction of a large pine-tree. The • cuckoo's more rapid flight soon outdistanced the pursuing tuis. On reaching the tree the cuckoo dashed through the branches, and when on the opposite side of the tree swiftly rose at an acute angle and took refuge almost on the top of the Are°. The excited tuis following dashed to and fro amongst the branches uttering angry notes to no purpose. Thus the koheperoa of the Maori during its annual sojourn in New Zealand several times a day deceives and makes fools of tie tuis,—real fools.
In addition to playing the fool in almost every conceivable way, the parson birds occasionally play the "clown" very perfectly. When resting on their smooth perch in captivity, they at times swing once or twice round the perch as if indulging in trapeze exercise. At other times they may be seen with one wing and a leg held up and posing gracefully as if imitating some graceful lady performer on a tightrope. There is no question but that the natural habits and antics of the New Zealand parson bird are remarkable, and quite unique among birds. I am glad to state that as the glorious native forests disappear, as one of the inevitable results of settle- ment in a new country, the charming and sprightly tui feels the change less than some other species do, and lingers longest . in, or comes from the distant bush to, gardens where the more 'richly melliferous trees are in bloom. Their melodious and far-eohoing notes are frequently heard in many of the pretty gardens in New Plymouth. That they may be long heard here and throughout the land is the wish of all lovers of New Zealand's remarkable and unique native birds,—I am,
Sir, 84,e., W. W. SMITII. New Plymouth, New Zealand.
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