Etymology The word is imitative of the bird's call.
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New Zealand The Tasmanian spotted owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae), a small brown owl indigenous to New Zealand and Tasmania.
[T]he eye of the Morepork or Greater Night Jarr,^([sic]) which I lately had the opportunity of examining, is wonderfully adapted for enabling it to see the insects in the dark, on which it feeds.1843, James Backhouse, chapter XVIII, in A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. […]; York, Yorkshire: John L. Linney, […], →OCLC, page 213:
Although the living figure of our owl may be unknown to most persons, from the nature of its habits, yet few, perhaps very few, of the older settlers are unacquainted with the human-like cry of the More-pork.1871 May, T[homas] H[enry] Potts, “Art. XI.—On the Birds of New Zealand. … (Part II.)”, in James Hector, editor, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1870, volume III, Wellington: James Hughes, printer, […]; London: Trübner 7 Co., […], →OCLC, page 61:
4 more examples
[I]t was better fun wandering about with the old man at night than moping in my hut, listening to the morepoke.1876, Richard Rowe, “The Bunyip”, in A Child’s Corner Book: Stories for Boys and Girls, London; Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo. […], →OCLC, page 182:
When Heke and Kawiti were making an attack on the Europeans in the Bay of Islands, the native parties, in taking up their positions before daybreak, communicated their movements to one another by imitating the cry of the morepork, which the sentries were accustomed to hear, and of which they therefore took no notice.1909, F[rederick] W[ollaston] Hutton, James Drummond, “[Aves.] The Morepork.—Kuru or Koukou. Ninox novae-zealandiae.”, in The Animals of New Zealand: An Account of the Dominion’s Air-breathing Vertebrates, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, Christchurch; Wellington; Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs, →OCLC, page 170:
Moreporks and laughing owls were both recorded from the Punakaiki karst in small numbers, although the presence of laughing owls was inferred only from prey remains. [...] Because moreporks were extremely rare in fossil deposits, Millener (1991) suggested that they were recent colonists. In Punakaiki, one of the morepork records is of bones beneath an entrance tomo.1993 September, T[revor] H[enry] Worthy, R. N. Holdaway, “Quaternary Fossil Faunas from Caves in the Punakaiki Area, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand”, in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, volume 23, number 3, Wellington: SIR Publishing, Royal Society of New Zealand, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 216:
I remember that at night there was usually a morepork in the tree, whose eerie calls scared me as I lay still in bed, with firmly closed eyes, waiting for a possible attack.2000, L. C. Woods, “Growing Up”, in Against the Tide: An Autobiographical Account of a Professional Outsider, Bristol; Philadelpha, Pa.: Institute of Physics Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:
It is interesting that the Opposition morepork is starting to chirp. [...] We have all heard about the "gang of four and a half"—the morepork brigade.1985 July 16, Ken Shirley, “Appropriation Bill (No. 2)—Financial Statement: Second Reading”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): First Session, Forty-first Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 464, Wellington: V. R. Ward, government printer, →OCLC, page 5636:
Where's that old morepoke? O, you're there, are you? Fetch the jack off o' your wagon—come! fly roun'! you're (very) slow for a young fellow.1903 August 1, Tom Collins [pseudonym; Joseph Furphy], chapter 1, in Such is Life: Being Certain Extracts from the Diary of Tom Collins, Sydney, N.S.W.: Bulletin Newspaper Company, →OCLC; republished Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin House of Books, 2012, →ISBN:
Etymology The word is imitative of the bird's call.
1
The call of a morepork.
[T]he morepork, a species of caprimulgus, or goatsucker,^([sic]) keeps up all night the exact repetition of its own name, "Morepork! morepork!" It is a sound to me most expressive of a dreary loneliness and twilight distance that I ever heard.1852 December 1, William Howitt, “Letter VII”, in Land, Labour, and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria: With Visits to Sydney and Van Diemen’s Land. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1855, →OCLC, pages 115–116:
As soon as the shades of evening close in over the Australian forest, the ear is startled by the cry of "morepoke," clearly and loudly repeated, and a bird as large as an owl flits by on noiseless wing, like the goat-sucker at home. This is the Morepoke, a species of large night-jar,^([sic]) all head and mouth, about the size of an owl.1861, [Horace William Wheelwright], “A Chapter on the Ornithology of Port Phillip”, in Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist; or, Notes on the Field Sports and Fauna of Australia Felix. By an Old Bushman, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, […], →OCLC, page 126:
3 more examples
As soon as night begins to spread its darkening shadows over our brief twilight, this active creature sets out on its hunting excursions, roaming over field and gully with soft, noiseless flight, one of the advantages it owes to its flocculent plumage; its cry of "morepork, morepork," is repeated at frequent intervals, sometimes with the utmost rapidity of utterance; [...]1871 May, T[homas] H[enry] Potts, “Art. XI.—On the Birds of New Zealand. … (Part II.)”, in James Hector, editor, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1870, volume III, Wellington: James Hughes, printer, […]; London: Trübner 7 Co., […], →OCLC, pages 61–62:
‘I assure you. I do rather a good morepork.’ Bernard sat up, straightened his shoulders. ‘More pork. More pork.’1992, Barbara Anderson, chapter 8, in Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Wellington: Victoria University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 141:
I know where a morepork lives, in the roof of our dunny, and I hear it hoot ‘morepork, morepork’ every night. And I hoot ‘morepork’ back to it, and it hoots ‘morepork’ back to me.2005, Jack Lasenby, “The Morepork’s Revenge, Mr Bryce’s Verandah Post, Why Freddy Jones Bit His Tongue, and the Way Fern Uncurls at the Top”, in Mr Bluenose, Dunedin: Longacre Press, →ISBN: