kōtuku
1. (noun) white heron, Egretta alba, great egret, Ardea alba modesta - a rare white bird that has an obvious kink in its long neck and returns each year to Okarito on the West Coast to nest. All white plumage, bill yellow, legs and feet black. In alternate plumage it has delicate filoplumes on the neck and back, black bill and skin of the face bluish-green, and lower legs pinkish.
(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 69;)
Kua tae mai ēnei kōtuku rerenga tahi, kua takahi ō rāua waewae i ngā marae maha o Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu (TTT 1/4/1927). / These rare visitors have travelled to the many marae of the North and South Islands.
2. (noun) white heron feather.
Kātahi te tamāhine ka tahuri ki te tātai i a ia, nā ka heru i a ia, nā ka rākei i a ia ki ōna kaitaka, ka tia hoki i tōna māhunga ki te raukura - ko ngā raukura he huia, he kōtuku, he toroa, ka oti (NM 1928:198). / Then the daughter set about adorning herself, placing a comb in her hair, dressing herself in fine kaitaka cloaks, and placing feather plumes in her hair - feather plumes of huia, white heron and albatross feathers, and then she was finished.
