.
Polach, Dieffenbach, Nicholas, Yates, call their evil spirits
<i>whiros</i> or <i>atuas</i>. Tepo, the place of darkness, is
the nearest they have come to it. I think myself it is South
Island Maori, often differing a little in spelling and use; and
so very much the larger proportion of New Zealand literature is
the literature of the North."

<hw>Tait</hw>, <i>n</i>. a Western Australian animal, properly
called the <i>Long-snouted Phalanger</i>, <i>Tarsipes
rostratus</i>, the only species of its genus. See
<i>Phalanger</i> and <i>Opossum</i>. It is about the size of
a mouse, and lives almost entirely on honey, which it extracts
from flowers.

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 120:

"The Long-snouted Phalanger, which derives its scientific name
from a certain resemblance of its hind feet to those of a
Malayan Lemur-like animal known as the Tarsier, is one of the
most interesting of the phalangers. . . . Known to the natives
by the names of <i>Tait</i> and <i>Nulbenger</i>, it is,
writes Gould, `generally found in all situations suited to
its existence, from Swan River to King George's Sound.'"

<hw>Takahe</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for an extinct New
Zealand Rail, <i>Notornis mantelli</i>, Owen.
See <i>Notornis</i>.

1889. Prof. Parker, 'Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,'
p. 116:

"The Takahe is the rarest of existing native birds, if indeed
it is not already extinct."

<hw>Takapu</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for the bird <i>Dysporus
serrator</i>, Banks, a <i>Gannet</i> (q.v.).

<hw>Take (a man) down</hw>, Australian sporting slang. (1) To
induce a man to bet, knowing that he must lose. (2) To advise
a man to bet, and then to "arrange" with an accomplice (a
jockey, e.g.) for the bet to be lost. (3) To prove superior
to a man in a game of skill.

1895. `The Argus,' Dec. 5, p. 5, col. 2:

"It appeared that [the plaintiff] had a particular fancy for a
[certain] horse, and in an evil hour induced [the defendant] to
lay him a wager about this animal at the long odds of two
shillings to threepence. When the horse had romped
triumphantly home and [the plaintiff] went to collect his two
shillings [the defendant] accused him of having `taken him
down,' stigmatised him as a thief and a robber, and further
remarked that [the plaintiff] had the telegram announcing the
result of the race in his pocket when the wager was made, and
in short refused to give [the plaintiff] anything but a black
eye."