(3) "No, thank you."
The objection to reply No. 1 is that it may cause unpleasantness, or your host may retort, "I didn't ask you if you would have a little more moa," and thus increase your embarrassment.
No. 2 is a more suitable rejoinder, but probably No. 3 is the safest reply, as some of these big birds require a lot of mastication.
In the event of your firing off No. 3, your host glances towards the hostess and says—
"Oo, then" (pronounced "oh-oh").
To your startled senses comes the immediate suggestion, "Is the giver of the feast demented, or is he merely rude?"
Just as you are meditating an excuse for leaving the table and the house, your hostess saves the situation by saying sweetly, "Do let me give you a little oo," playfully tapping with a carvingknife the breastbone of a winged creature recumbent on a dish in front of her.
It gradually dawns upon you that you are among strange birds quite outside the pale of the English Game Laws, and that you will have to take a sporting chance.
While you are still in the act of wavering the son of the house says, "Try a little huia."
If you like the look of this specimen of Polynesian poultry you signify your acceptance in the customary manner; otherwise, in parliamentary phraseology, "The Oos have it."