poe

n.

same as Tui (q.v.)and Parson-bird (q.v.). The name, which wasnot the Maori name, did not endure.

1772. Cook's' Voyage towards the South Pole and round the World' [2nd Voyage], vol. i. pp. 97, 98:

«Amongst the small birds I must not omit to particularise thewattlebird, poy-bird. . . . The poy-bird is less than thewattle-bird; the feathers of a fine mazarine blue, except thoseof its neck, which are of a most beautiful silver-grey. . . .Under its throat hang two little tufts of curled snow-whitefeathers, called its poies, which being the Otaheitean word forear-rings occasioned our giving that name to the bird, which isnot more remarkable for the beauty of its plumage than for thesweetness of its note.»

[In the illustration given it is spelt poe-bird,and in the list of plates it is spelt poi.]

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 111:

«This bird they called the Wattlebird, and also the Poy-bird,from its having little tufts of curled hair under its throat,which they called poies, from the Otaheitan word for ear-rings.The sweetness of this bird's note they described asextraordinary, and that its flesh was delicious, but that itwas a shame to kill it.»