ruru
1. (noun) morepork, owl, Ninox novaeseelandiae - a native owl common throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand in wooded areas including suburbs, roosting by day and active at night.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 152;)
Pērā hoki me Māui-pōtiki i tango rā i te āhua o te kāhu, o te kāeaea, o te ruru, o te kea, o te pekapeka, o te kiore, o te kererū, o te noke hoki; kātahi anō ka mate i a Hine-nui-te-pō i roto i tōna whare i Pōtaka-rongorongo. (JPS 1922:48). / It was thus that Māui-pōtiki took on the form of the harrier hawk, the New Zealand falcon, the morepork, the kea, the bat, the rat, the pigeon, and the worm; until he was finally killed by Hine-nui-te-pō in her house at Pōtaka-rongorongo.
