1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 142:
"Recently (Dec. 1887) the sudden death of numbers of cattle in the vicinity of Dandenong, Victoria, was attributed to their having eaten a plant known as the wild parsnip. . . . Its action is so powerful that no remedial measures seem to be of any avail."
<hw>Parson-bird</hw>, <i>n</i>. the New Zealand bird <i>Prosthemadera novae-zelandiae</i>, Gmel.; Maori name, <i>Tui</i> (q.v.). See also <i>Poe</i>.
1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 401:
"Cook named this beautiful and lively bird the parson and mocking-bird. It acquired the first name from its having two remarkable white feathers on the neck like a pair of clergyman's bands."
[Mr. Taylor is not correct. Cook called it the Poe-bird (q.v.). The name `Parson-bird' is later.]
1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand the Britain of the South,' vol. i. p. 118:
"The most common, and certainly the most facetious, individual of the ornithology is the tui (parson-bird). Joyous Punchinello of the bush, he is perpetual fun in motion."
1858. C. W., `Song of the Squatters,' `Canterbury Rhymes' (2nd edit.), p. 47:
"So the parson-bird, the tui,
The white-banded songster tui,
In the morning wakes the woodlands
With his customary music.
Then the other tuis round him
Clear their throats and sing in concert,
All the parson-birds together."