Kākā poria

Kākā poria are small leg rings for parrots made from bone or stone. The leg rings were made by the Māori of New Zealand and used to confine the movements of young kākā (Nestor meridionalis) parrots.

Kākā were an important food source for Māori and during the fowling season, pet kākā were taken into the forests where they were used as lures. The pet kākā were made to cry out to attract wild birds. Wild kākā, being curious and sociable, were attracted in great numbers by the tame birds' cries. The mokai handlers pushed mutu kākā (snares for parrots) into the tree canopy. As the wild birds landed on nearby branches some birds would alight on a snare's carefully arranged horizontal perch, and a cord would be jerked trapping the legs of the birds against the protruding upright of the mutu kākā. The snares with the captured wild birds were lowered back to the ground, the birds killed and preserved as a food item.

Kākā poria, when not attached to the legs of tame birds, were often worn as pendants. Some, especially those fashioned from pounamu (New Zealand greenstone), required sophisticated technical knowledge to make because of the hardness of the material and the finely carved details such as the holes on the outer edges that accommodate the cord. Kākā poria often became valued family heirlooms and were passed down from generation to generation.

External Links

* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?__VIEWSTATE=/wEPDwUKMTAwNTY3MzM4MGRk2VIBUl0c8JJ0OrrEMBcNzXoTvg8%3D&term=Kākā+poria&search=Search Examples of kaka poria from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]