Late 19th century | Parson bird
As the European colony in New Zealand grew, ministers became more common. The tuft of white feathers at the tūī’s throat reminded settlers of the white collar of a minister or parson. The name parson bird became fashionable for the tūī.
In his famous book, The History of the Birds of New Zealand, Walter Buller (1888) described the tūī: “To those familiar with the bird, this name [parson bird] is certainly appropriate; for when indulging in its strain of wild notes it displays these ‘bands’, and gesticulates in a manner forcibly suggestive of the declamatory style of preaching.”
Additional Information
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Data last updated | 22 February 2019 |
| Metadata last updated | 11 August 2025 |
| Created | 22 February 2019 |
| Format | PNG |
| License | CC-BY 4.0 (Attribution) |
| Datastore active | False |
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| Id | 8bc392a4-bba0-4539-92f4-b2088d30d885 |
| Mimetype | image/jpeg |
| Package id | 421fc3a5-4908-45bf-a586-1dfa730a7cae |
| Position | 15 |
| Size | 1 MiB |
| State | active |
| Url type | upload |
| Version |