Hākuturi

Sources present the hākuturi as a multitudinous class of forest-attending beings connected to Tāne, the god of the forest and ancestor of birds. They are described in tradition as the host or myriads of Hakuturi (Te Tini o Hakuturi). Rather than a single founding narrative, their role is demonstrated in episodes such as the Rātā story: when Rātā felled a tree without performing the proper incantations and rituals, the hākuturi re-erected the tree to rebuke him, and after he showed remorse they felled it again and made it into a canoe for him in one night.

Accounts describe the hākuturi as a multitude of small beings often regarded as birds or birdlike; some local traditions identify particular small native birds (for example, whitehead) with the hakuturi. Sources emphasize their multitudinous, host-like nature rather than a single anthropomorphic form. Regional stories and modern representations vary, but the birdlike/multitude imagery is recurrent in the cited material.

The hākuturi act as custodial agents of the forest: they avenge desecration of the forest's sacredness, rebuke humans who cut trees without proper ritual observance (for example by re-erecting felled trees), and can restore or perform repair when human penitence is shown (as when they felled and carved a canoe for Rātā overnight). Their agency is collective and responsive to human ritual behaviour; some sources present them as offspring or agents of Tāne, placing their actions within Tāne's guardianship of the forest and birds.