HONEYMOON  , the first

month after marriage . Lord Avebury in his Origin of Civilization suggests that the seclusion usually associated with this period is a survival of marriage by capture, and answers to the period during which the husband kept his wife in retirement, to prevent her from appealing to her relatives ' The young of this species has the throat yellow . s W . A . Forbes published a careful monograph of this genus in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1879, pp . 256-279 . ' This bird, according to Sir Walter Buller (Birds of New Zealand, p . 88), while uttering its wild notes, indulges in much gesticulation, which adds to the suggested resemblance . It has great power of mimicry, and is a favourite cage-bird both with the natives and colonists . On one occasion, says Buller, he had addressed a large meeting of Maories on a matter of considerable political importance, when " immediately on the conclusion of my speech, and before the old chief to whom my arguments were chiefly addressed had time to reply, a tui, whose netted cage hung to a rafter_ overhead, responded in a clear, emphatic way, ' Tito!' (false) . The circumstance naturally caused much merriment among my audience, and quite upset the zravity of the venerable old chief, Nepia Taratoa . ' Friend,' said he, laughing, ' your arguments are very good; but my mokai is a very wise bird. and he is not yet convinced!' " for release .

Others suggest that as the

moon commences to wane as soon as it is at its full, so does the mutual affection of the wedded pair, the " honeymoon " (with this derivation) not necessarily referring to any definite period of time .