item details
Overview
This korowai (cloak with tassels) is unusual because it is also decorated with feathers that came into more common use by the middle of the nineteenth century. It is made of muka (flax fibre), kererū feathers (New Zealand pigeon: Hemiphago novaezelandiae), weka feathers (wood-hen: Gallirallus australis), and tūī feathers (parson bird: Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae). The top is finished with a black, dyed muka border and the korowai also has remnants of black, dyed hukahuka (tassels).
New Zealand pigeon
There are two sub-species of native pigeon: the New Zealand pigeon, known to Māori as kererū or, in Northland, as kūkū or kukupā, and the Chatham Island pigeon (Hemiphaga n. chathamensis) or parea. Since the extinction of the moa (large flightless bird: Dinornis gigantean), the native pigeon is now the only seed disperser with a bill big enough to wrap around and swallow large berries, such as karaka (tree: Corynocarpus laevigatus), tawa (tree: Beilschmieddia tawa) and taraire (tree: Beilschmiedia taraire). It also eats leaves, buds, fruits, and flowers, the relative amounts varying seasonally and regionally (in Northland, for example, the birds eat mostly berries).
Weka
Known as the 'bush hen', weka are brown flightless birds that have a famously feisty and curious personality. They were common on New Zealand's mainland but are now confined mainly to Department of Conservation estates. Weka occupy a range of habitats including forests, sub-alpine grassland, sand dunes, rocky shores, and even modified, semi-urban environments. They live on a tasty diet of invertebrates, fruit, lizards, rodents, food scraps, and the eggs of ground-nesting birds - especially seabirds on islands.
Tūī
Tūī are common throughout New Zealand in forests, towns, and on offshore islands. They are adaptable and are found not only in native forests, bush reserves, and bush remnants, but also in suburban areas, particularly in winter if there is a flowering gum about.
Tūī are unique (endemic) to New Zealand and belong to the honeyeater family, which means they feed mainly on nectar from the flowers of native plants such as kōwhai (large shrub: Sophora spp.), pūriri (tree: Vitex lucens), rewarewa (New Zealand honeysuckle: Knightsia excelsa), kahikatea (white pine: Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), pōhutukawa (tree: Metrosideros excelsa), rātā (tree: Metrosideros robusta), and harakeke (flax: Phormium tenax). Occasionally they will eat insects too. Tūī are important pollinators of many native trees and will fly large distances, especially during winter, for their favourite foods.
Tūī will live where there is a balance of ground cover, shrubs and trees, and live in harmony with lizards, butterflies, and insects, as well as native birds like the bellbird, silvereye, and even the kererū.
Acquisition
This korowai was gifted by Viscount Galway, Governor General of New Zealand from 1935 to 1941.