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Definition of Maori hen
1. Noun. Flightless New Zealand rail of thievish disposition having short wings each with a spur used in fighting.
Generic synonyms: Rail
Group relationships: Gallirallus, Genus Gallirallus
Lexicographical Neighbors of Maori Hen
Literary usage of Maori hen
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The New Zealand Journal of Science (1885)
"I was camped by the river, and just across it a maori hen had taken in hand to
... It was laughable to see the lively way the maori hen danced round him and ..."
2. Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases, and Usages by Edward Ellis Morris (1898)
"Maori-hen, /;. Same as Weka (qv). Maoriland, n. a modern name for New Zealand.
It is hardly earlier than 1884. If the word, or anything like it, ..."
3. Sport in New Zealand by Montagu Cradock (1904)
"The ' weka,' Maori-hen or wood-hen, although he does not and cannot fly, has wings.
They look immature and undeveloped, it is true, but still they are, ..."
4. Climbs in the New Zealand Alps: Being an Account of Travel and Discovery by Edward Arthur FitzGerald (1896)
"They soon gave it up and we all went for a walk in the afternoon; when we saw
for the first time what is called in New Zealand the Weka or maori hen ..."
5. Cassell's Picturesque Australasia by Edward Ellis Morris (1889)
"Of the former, there is the weka or Maori-hen, the kea-parrot, and the little
Alpine- wren. The weka is a bird with a bad reputation for pilfering. ..."
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