1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Home Expedition in Central Australia.'_Austral English

"Watching the Porcupine-grass ants, which are very small and

black bodies with yellowish feet, I saw them constantly running

in and out of these chambers, and on opening the latter found

that they were always built over two or more Coccidae attached

to the leaf of the grass."

<hw>Porcupine-Parrot</hw>, n. See quotation.

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Report of the Horne Expedition in

Central Australia,' Part ii. Zoology, Aves, p. 107:

"Geopsittacus occidentalis. Western Ground Parrakeet. . . .

As they frequent the dense porcupine grass, in which they

hide during the day, a good dog is necessary to find them.

They are locally known as the `Porcupine Parrot.'"

<hw>Poroporo</hw>, n. Maori name for the flowering

shrub Solanum aviculare, Forst.; called in Australia,

Kangaroo Apple. Corrupted into Bullybul

(q.v.). /See, rather, Bull-a-bull/

1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand, the Britain of the South,

p. 136:

"The poroporo, the nicest or least nasty of the wild fruits, is

a sodden strawberry flavoured with apple-peel; but if rashly

tasted an hour before it is ripe, the poroporo is an alum pill

flavoured with strychnine."

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions New Zealand Institute,'

vol. xiii. art. i. p. 32:

"The large berry of the poro-poro (Solanum aviculare)

was also eaten; it is about the size of a small plum, and when

ripe it is not unpleasant eating, before it is ripe it is very

acrid. This fruit was commonly used by the early colonists in

the neighbourhood of Wellington in making jam."

<hw>Porphyrio</hw>, n. the Sultana-bird, or Sultana.

The bird exists elsewhere. In Australia it is generally called

the Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

1875. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 213:

"The crimson-billed porphyrio, that jerking struts

Among the cool thick rushes."

1890. `Victorian Statutes-the Game Act' (Third Schedule):

[Close Season.] ". . . Land-rail, all other members of the

Rail family, Porphyrio, Coots, &c. From the First day of

August to the Twentieth day of December following."

<hw>Port-Arthur Plum</hw>. See Plum, Native.

<hw>Port-Jackson Fig</hw>, n. See Fig.

<hw>Port-Jackson Shark</hw>, Heterodontus phillipii,

Lacep., family Cestraciontidae; called also the

Shell-grinder.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'

p. 10:

"The Cestracion or Port Jackson shark

(Heterodontus)."

Ibid. p. 97:

"It was supposed that Port Jackson alone had this shark . . .

It has since been found in many of the coast bays of

Australia."

<hw>Port-Jackson Thrush</hw>, n. the best known bird

among the Australian Shrike-thrushes (q.v.),

Colluricincla harmonica, Lath.; called also the

Austral Thrush, and Harmonic Thrush by Latham.

It is also the C. cinerea of Vigors and Horsfield and

the Turdus harmonicus of Latham, and it has received

various other scientific and vernacular names; Colonel Legge

has now assigned to it the name of Grey Shrike-Thrush.

Gould called it the "Harmonious Colluricincla."

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 157:

"The Port-Jackson thrush, of which a plate is annexed, inhabits

the neighbourhood of Port Jackson. The top of head

blueish-grey; back is a fine chocolate brown; wings and tail

lead-colour; under part dusky white. . . . The bill, dull

yellow; legs brown."

1822. John Latham, `General History of Birds,' vol. v.

p. 124:

"Austral Thrush. [A full description.] Inhabits New South

Wales."

[Latham describes two other birds, the Port Jackson

Thrush and the Harmonic Thrush, and he uses

different scientific names for them. But Gould, regarding

Latham's specimens as all of the same species, takes all

Latham's scientific and vernacular names as synonyms for the

same bird.]

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. pl. 74:

"The Colluricincla harmonica is one of the oldest known of the

Australian birds, having been described in Latham's `Index

Ornithologicus,' figured in White's `Voyage' and included in

the works of all subsequent writers."

<hw>Port-Macquarie Pine</hw>. See Pine.

<hw>Post-and-Rail Tea</hw>, slang name for strong bush-tea: so

called because large bits of the tea, or supposed tea, float

about in the billy, which are compared by a strong imagination

to the posts and rails of the wooden fence so frequent in

Australia.

1851. `The Australasian' (a Quarterly), p. 298:

"Hyson-skin and post-and-rail tea have been

superseded by Mocha, claret, and cognac."

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 163:

"A hot beverage in a tin pot, which richly deserved the

colonial epithet of `post-and-rail' tea, for it might well have

been a decoction of `split stuff,' or `ironbark shingles,' for

any resemblance it bore to the Chinese plant."

1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. i. p. 28:

"The shepherd's wife kindly gave us the invariable mutton-chop

and damper and some post-and-rail tea."

1883. Keighley, `Who are you?' p. 36:

"Then took a drink of tea. . . .

Such as the swagmen in our goodly land

Have with some humour named the `post-and-rail.'"

<hw>Potato-Fern</hw>, n. a fern (Marattia

fraxinea, Smith) with a large part edible, sc. the basal

scales of the frond. Called also the Horseshoe-fern.

<hw>Potato, Native</hw>, n. a sort of Yam, Gastrodia

sesamoides, R. Br., N.O. Orchideae.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 131:

"Produces bulb-tubers growing one out of another, of the size,

and nearly the form, of kidney potatoes; the lowermost is

attached by a bundle of thick fleshy fibres to the root of the

tree from which it derives its nourishment. These roots are

roasted and eaten by the aborigines; in taste they resemble

beet-root, and are sometimes called in the colony native

potatoes."

1857. F. R. Nixon, `Cruise of the Beacon,' p. 27:

"And the tubers of several plants of this tribe were largely

consumed by them, particularly those of Gastrodi

sessamoides [sic], the native potato, so called by the

colonists, though never tasted by them, and having not the most

remote relation to the plant of that name, except in a little

resemblance of the tubers, in shape and appearance, to the

kidney potato."

<hw>Potoroo</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a

Kangaroo-Rat (q.v.). See also Potorous

and Roo.

1790. John White, `Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales,'

p. 286:

"The Poto Roo, or Kangaroo Rat." [Figure and description.]

"It is of a brownish grey colour, something like the brown or

grey rabbit, with a tinge of a greenish yellow. It has a pouch

on the lower part of its belly."

<hw>Potorous</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus

of the Kangaroo-Rats (q.v.). The aboriginal name was

Potoroo; see Roo. They are also called

Rat-Kangaroos.

<hw>Pouched-lion</hw>, or <hw>Marsupial Lion</hw>, n.

a large extinct Phalanger (q.v.), Thylacoleo

carnifex, Owen. The popular name was given under the idea,

derived from the presence of an enormous cutting-tooth, that

the animal was of fierce carnivorous habits. But it is more

generally regarded as closely allied to the phalangers, who are

almost entirely vegetarians.

<hw>Pouched-Mouse</hw>, n. the vernacular name adopted

for species of the genera Phascologale (q.v.),

Sminthopsis, Dasyuroides and Antechinomys.

They are often called Kangaroo-mice (q.v.).

The species are--

Brush-tailed Pouched-Mouse--

Phascologale penicillata, Shaw.

Chestnut-necked P.-M.--

P. thorbechiana, Schl.

Crest-tailed P.-M.--

P. cristicauda, Krefft.

Fat-tailed P.-M.--

P. macdonnellensis, Spencer.

Freckled P.-M.---

P. apicalis, Gray.

Lesser-tailed P.-M.--

P. calura, Gould.

Little P.-M.--

P. minima, Geoff.

Long-tailed P.-M.--

P. longicaudata, Schleg.

Orange-bellied P.-M.--

P. doria, Thomas.

Pigmy P.-M.--

P. minutissima, Gould.

Red-tailed P.-M.--

P. wallacii, Grey.

Swainson's P.-M.--

P. swainsoni, Water.

Yellow-footed Pouched-Mouse--

Phascologale flavipes, Water.

The Narrow-footed Pouched-Mice belong to the genus

Sminthopsis, and differ from the Phascologales

in being entirely terrestrial in their habits, whereas the

latter are usually arboreal; the species are--

Common Narrow-footed Pouched-Mouse--

Sminthopsis murina, Water.

Finke N.-f. P.-M.--

S. larapinta, Spencer.

Sandhill N.-f. P.-M.--

S. psammophilus, Spencer.

Stripe-faced N.-f. P.-M.--

S. virginiae, De Tarrag.

Thick-tailed N.-f. P.-M.--

S. crassicaudata, Gould.

White-footed N.-f. P.-M.

S. leucopus, Grey.

The third genus, Dasyuroides, has only one species--

Byrne's Pouched-Mouse, D. byrnei, Spencer.

The fourth genus, Antechinomys, has only one known

species--the Long-legged Jumping Pouched-Mouse,

A. laniger, Gould.

<hw>Pounamu</hw>, or <hw>Poenamu</hw>, n.

the Maori name for Nephrite, Jade, or Greenstone

(q.v.). In the second spelling the e is hardly sounded.

1773. Hawkesworth, `Cook's Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 400:

"Two Whennuas or islands [afterwards called New Zealand] which

might be circumnavigated in a few days, and which he called

Tovy Poenammoo; the literal translation of this word is `the

water of green talc,' and probably if we had understood him

better we should have found that Tovy Poenammoo was the name of

some particular place where they got the green talc or stone of

which they make their ornaments and tools, and not a general

name for the whole southern district."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 362:

"A magnificent Mere punamu, a battle-axe, fifteen inches long,

and cut out of the most beautiful, transparent nephrite, an

heirloom of his illustrious ancestors, which he kept as a

sacred relic."

1881. J. L. Campbell [Title of book describing early days of

New Zealand]:

"Poenamo."

<hw>Pratincole</hw>, n. The bird called a

Pratincole (inhabitant of meadows: Lat. pratum

and incola) exists elsewhere, and more often under the

familiar name of Chat. The Australian species

are--Glareola grallaria, Temm.; Oriental,

G. orientalis, Leach.

<hw>Pre-empt</hw>, n. a slang abbreviation for

pre-emptive right.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xxiv.

p. 322:

"My friend has the run and the stock and the pre-empts all in

his own hands."

<hw>Pretty-Faces</hw>, n. a fancy name for a small

kangaroo. Not very common.

1887. W. S. S.Tyrwhitt, `The New Chum in the Queensland

Bush,' p. 145:

"Kangaroos are of several different kinds. First, the large

brown variety, known as kangaroo proper; next the smaller kind,

known as pretty faces or whip tails, which are rather smaller

and of a grey colour, with black and white on the face."

<hw>Prickfoot</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant, Eryngium

vesiculosum, Lab., N.O. Umbelliferae.

<hw>Prickly Fern</hw>, n. Alsophila australis,

R. Br., N.O. Filices.

1862. W. Archer, `Products of Tasmania,' p. 41:

"Prickly fern-tree (Alsophila Australis, Br.). This

very handsome ferntree occasionally attains a height of thirty

feet. It is not, by any means, so common a fern-tree as

Dicksonia antarctica (Lab.)."

<hw>Prickly Mimosa</hw>, n. See Mimosa

and Prickly Moses, under Moses.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 6:

Acacia verticillata. Whorl leaved Acacia, or Prickly

Mimosa, so called from its sharp pointed leaves standing out in

whorls round the stem like the spokes of a wheel."

<hw>Prickly Pine</hw>, n. See Pine.

<hw>Prickly Wattle</hw>, n. See Wattle.

<hw>Primage</hw>, n. The word is of old commercial use,

for a small sum of money formerly paid to the captain or master

of the ship, as his personal perquisite, over and above the

freight charges paid to the owners or agents, by persons

sending goods in a ship. It was called by the French

pot-de-vin du maitre,--a sort of pourboire,

in fact. Now-a-days the captain has no concern with the

freight arrangements, and the word in this sense has disappeared.

It has re-appeared in Australia under a new form. In 1893

the Victorian Parliament imposed a duty of one per cent.

on the Prime, as the Customs laws call the first entry

of goods. This tax was called Primage, and raised such

an outcry among commercial men that in 1895 it was repealed.

<hw>Primrose, Native</hw>, n. The name is given in

Tasmania to Goodenia geniculata, R. Br.,

N.O. Goodeniaceae. There are many species of

Goodenia in Australia, and they contain a tonic bitter

which has not been examined.

<hw>Prion</hw>, n. a sea-bird. See Dove-Petrel.

(Grk. priown, a saw.) The sides of its bill are like

the teeth of a saw.

1885. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the

Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 448:

"The name Prion, as almost universally applied elsewhere to the

Blue Petrels, has been kept [in Australia] as an English name."

<HW>Prop</HW>, v. of a horse: to stop suddenly.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 194:

"Another man used to teach his horse (which was free from

vice) to gallop full speed up to the verandah of a house, and

when almost against it, the animal would stop in his stride (or

prop), when the rider vaulted lightly over his head on to the

verandah."

1880. W. Senior, `Travel and Trout,' p.52:

"How on a sudden emergency the sensible animal will

instantaneously check his impetuosity, `prop,' and swing round

at a tangent."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood,' Melbourne Memories,' c. xxi. p. 152:

"Traveller's dam had an ineradicable taste for propping."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 153:

"His horse propped short, and sent him flying over its head."

<hw>Prop</hw>, n. a sudden stop.

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xvi. p. 115:

"The `touchy' mare gave so sudden a `prop,' accompanied by a

desperate plunge, that he was thrown."

<hw>Prospect</hw>, v. to search for gold. In the word, and in

all its derivatives, the accent is thrown back on to the first

syllable. This word, in such frequent use in Australia, is

generally supposed to be of Australian origin, but it is in

equal use in the mining districts of the United States of

America.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 10:

"The forest seemed alive with scouts `prospecting.'"

1864. J. Rogers, `New Rush,' pt. i. p. 18:

"Behold him, along with his partner set out,

To prospect the unexplor'd ranges about."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' p. 46:

"A promising place for prospecting. Yet nowhere did I see the

shafts and heaps of rock or gravel which tell in a gold country

of the hasty search for the precious metal."

1894. `The Argus,' March 10, p. 4, col. 6:

"The uses of the tin dish require explanation. It is for

prospecting. That is to say, to wash the soil in which you

think there is gold."

<hw>Prospect</hw>, n. the result of the first or

test-dish full of wash-dirt.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' c. v. p. 54:

"The first prospect, the first pan of alluvial gold drift,

was sent up to be tested."

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 17:

"I have obtained good dish prospects after crudely crushing

up the quartz."

<hw>Prospecting</hw>, verbal n. and adj.

See Prospect, v.

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 16:

"Prospecting in my division is on the increase."

Ibid. p. 13:

"The Egerton Company are doing a large amount of prospecting

work."

<hw>Prospecting Claim</hw> = the first claim marked in a

gold-lead. See Reward Claim.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' c. v. p. 53:

"This, however, would be but half the size of the premier or

prospecting claim."

<hw>Prospector</hw>, n. one who searches for gold on a

new field. See Prospect, v.

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 19:

"The Government prospectors have also been very successful."

1891. W. Tilley, `Wild West of Tasmania,' p. 11:

"He incidentally mentioned his gold find to another prospector

. . . The last went out to the grounds and prospected, with

the result that he discovered the first payable gold on the

West Coast, for which he obtained a reward claim."

<hw>Pseudochirus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the

genus of Ring-tailed Phalangers. (See Opossum.) They

have prehensile tails, by which they hold in climbing, as with

a hand. (Grk. pseudo-, false, and cheir, hand.)

<hw>Psophodes</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus

of birds peculiar to Australia, and represented there by two

species. See Coach-whip Bird. The name comes from

the bird's peculiar note. (Grk. psophowdaes, noisy.)

<hw>Ptilonorhynchinae</hw>, n. pl. scientific name

assigned to the Australian group of birds called the

Bower-birds (q.v.). (Grk. ptilon, a feather,

rhunchos, a beak.)

<hw>Pudding-ball</hw>, n. a fish; corruption of the

aboriginal name of it, puddinba (q.v.), by the law

of Hobson-Jobson.

1847. J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 96:

"The species of fish that are commonest in the Bay (Moreton)

are mullet, bream, puddinba (a native word corrupted by the

colonists into pudding-ball) . . . The puddinba is like a

mullet in shape, but larger, and very fat; it is esteemed a

great delicacy."

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407 col. 4:

"`Pudding-ball' is the name of a fish. It has nothing to do

with pudding, nothing with any of the various meanings of ball.

The fish is not specially round. The aboriginal name was

`pudden-ba.' Voila tout."

<hw>Pukeko</hw>, n. Maori name for the bird

Porphyrio melanonotus, the Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

1896. `Otago Witness,' June 11, p. 51:

"Two pukaki [sic] flew across their path."

<hw>Punga</hw>, n. the trunk of the tree-fern that is

known as Cyathea medullaris, the "black fern " of the

settlers. It has an edible pith.

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 115:

"Some of the trees were so alarmed that they held down

their heads, and have never been able to hold them up since;

amongst these were the ponga (a fern-tree) and the kareao

(supple-jack), whose tender shoots are always bent."

1888. J. White, `Ancient History of Maori,' vol. iv.

p. 191:

"When Tara-ao left his pa and fled from the vengeance of

Karewa, he and his people were hungry and cut down ponga,

and cooked and ate them."

1888. J. Adams, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,'

vol. xxi. art. ii. p. 36:

"The size and beauty of the puriri, nikau, and ponga

(Cyathea medullaris) are worthy of notice."

1892. E. S. Brookes, `Frontier Life,' p. 139:

"The Survey Department graded a zigzag track up the side to the

top, fixing in punga steps, so that horses could climb up."

<hw>Punga-punga</hw>, n. Maori name for the pollen of

the raupo (q.v.).

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,'

vol. xiii. art. i. p. 28:

"Another curious article of vegetable food was the punga-punga,

the yellow pollen of the raupo flowers. To use it as food it

is mixed with water into cakes and baked. It is sweetish and

light, and reminds one strongly of London gingerbread."

<hw>Puriri</hw>, n. Maori name for the New Zealand

tree, Vitex littoralis, A. Cunn.,

N.O. Verbenaceae; called also New Zealand Oak,

New Zealand Teak, and Ironwood. It is very hard.

1842. W. R. Wade, `Journey in New Zealand' (Hobart Town),

p. 200:

"Puriri, misnamed Vitex littoralis, as it is not found

near the sea-coast."

1875. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 311:

"The Puriri Tree (Vitex littoralis). The stems

. . . vary from straight to every imaginable form of curved

growth. . . The fruit, which is like a cherry, is a favourite

food of the woodpigeon."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 86:

"A deep ravine, over which grey-stemmed purtris stretched out

afar their gnarled trunks, laden with deep green foliage,

speckled with the warm gleam of ruddy blossoms."

1881. J. L. Campbell, `Poenamo,' p. 102:

"The darker, crimped and varnished leaf of the puriri,

with its bright cherry-like berry."

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 209:

"The Puriri . . . on account of the strength of its timber

it is sometimes termed by the settlers `New Zealand Oak,' but

it would be far more correct to name it `New Zealand Teak.'"

<hw>Purple Berry</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for

Billardiera longiflora, Lab., N.O. Pittosporeae.

See Pittosporum.

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 11

[Note]:

"Billardiera longiflora, the well-known beautiful

climber, with pale greenish bell-flowers and purple fruit."

[Also pl. i.]

<hw>Purple Broom</hw>, n. See Broom.

<hw>Purple Coot</hw>, n. another name for the

Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

<hw>Purple Fig</hw>, n. See under Fig-tree.

<hw>Push</hw>, n. a gang. The word is of late very

common in Australia. It was once a prison term. Barrere and

Leland quote from M. Davitt's `Leaves from a Prison Diary,'

"the upper ten push." In Thieves' English it is--(1) a crowd;

(2) an association for a particular robbery. In Australia, its

use began with the larrikins (q.v.), and spread, until

now it often means clique, set, party, and even jocularly so

far as "the Government House Push."

1890. `The Argus,' July 26, p. 4, col. 3:

"`Doolan's push' were a party of larrikins working . . .

in a potato paddock near by."

1892. A topical song by E. J. Lonnen began:

"I've chucked up my Push for my Donah."

1893. `The Australasian,' June 24, p. 1165, col. 4:

"He [the young clergyman] is actually a member of every `push'

in his neighbourhood, and the effect has been not to degrade

the pastor, but to sweeten and elevate the `push.'"

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' June 26, p. 8, col. 7:

"For a long time past the `push' at Miller's Point, which

consists of young fellows for the most part under twenty-one

years of age, have been a terrible source of annoyance, and,

indeed, of actual danger. A few years ago the police by

resolute dealings with the larrikin pest almost put it down

in the neighbourhood, the part of it which was left being

thoroughly cowed, and consequently afraid to make any

disturbance. Within the past eighteen months or two years the

old `push' has been strengthened by the addition of youths just

entering on manhood, who, gradually increasing in numbers, have

elbowed their predecessors out of the field. Day by day the

new `push' has become more daring. From chaffing drunken men

and insulting defenceless women, the company has taken to

assault, to daylight robbery."

1893. `The Argus,' July 1, p. 10, col. 7:

"The Premier, in consultation with the inspector-general of the

police, has made arrangements to protect life and property

against the misconduct of the lawless larrikin `pushes' now

terrorising Sydney."

1894. `Sydney Morning Herald' (date lost):

"The word larrikin is excellently descriptive of the

irresponsible, mischievous, anti-social creature whose

eccentric action is the outcome of too much mutton. This

immoral will-o'-the-wisp, seized with a desire to jostle, or

thump, or smash, combines for the occasion with others like

himself, and the shouldering, shoving gang is well called a

push."

<hw>Pyrrholaemus</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus

of the Australian birds called the Red-throats;

from Grk. purros, "flame-coloured," "red," and

laimos, "throat."

<hw>Quail</hw>, n. a bird which exists under some form

all over the world. The Australian species are--

Black-breasted Quail--

Turnix melanogaster, Gould.

Brown Q.--

Synoicus australis, Lath.

[Called also Swamp-Quail.]

Chestnut-backed Q.--

Turnix castanotus, Gould.

Chestnut-bellied Q.--

Excalfatoria australis, Gould.

Little Q.--

Turnix velox, Gould.

Painted Q.--

T. varies, Lath. [Haemipodius melinatus,

Gould.]

Red-backed Q.--

T. maculosa, Gould.

Red-chested Q.--

T. pyrrhothorax, Gould.

Stubble Q.--

Coturnix pectoralis, Gould.

In New Zealand there is a single species, Coturnix

novae-zelandiae, Quoy and Gaim.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.

c. vii. p. 259:

"It is known to the colonists as the painted quail; and has

been called by Mr. Gould . . . Haemipodius melinatus."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 298:

"The painted quail, and the brush quail, the largest of

Australian gamebirds, I believe, whirred away from beneath

their horses' feet."

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 67:

"The swamp fowl and timorous quail . . .

Will start from their nests."

1889. Prof. Parker, `Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,'

p. 117:

"This group also is represented by a single species, the New

Zealand quail (Coturnix Novae-Zelandiae), belonging to a

widely distributed genus. It was formerly very abundant in New

Zealand; but within the last fifteen or twenty years has been

completely exterminated, and is now only known to exist on the

Three Kings Island, north of Cape Maria Van Diemen."

<hw>Quail-Hawk</hw>, n. name given to the bird

Falco, or Harpa novae-zelandiae.

See Hawk.

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 37:

"In New Zealand the courageous family of the Raptores

is very feebly represented; the honourable post of head of the

family in all fairness must be assigned to the falcon, which

is commonly known by the name of the quail- or sparrow-hawk,

not that it is identical with, or that it even bears much

resemblance to, the bold robber of the woods of Great

Britain--`the hardy sperhauke eke the quales foe,' as Chaucer

has it."

<hw>Quandong</hw>, n. (various spellings) aboriginal

name for--(1) a tree, Santalum acuminatum, De C.,

S. persicarium, F. v. M., N.O. Santalaceae.

In the Southern Colonies it is often called the Southern

Quandong, and the tree is called the Native

Peach-Tree (q.v.). The name is given to another large

scrub-tree, Elaeocarpus grandis, F. v. M.,

N.O. Tiliaceae. The fruit, which is of a blue colour

and is eaten by children, is also called the Native

Peach.

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' p. 135:

"In all these scrubs on the Murray the Fusanus

acuminatus is common, and produces the quandang

nut (or kernel)."

1857. W. Howitt, `Tallangetta,' vol. i. p. 41:

"Abundance of fig, and medlar and quince trees, cherries,

loquots, quondongs, gooseberry, strawberry, and raspberry

trees."

1867. G. G. McCrae, `Balladeadro,' p. 10:

"Speed thee, Ganook, with these swift spears--

This firebrand weeping fiery tears,

And take this quandang's double plum,

'Twill speak alliance tho' 'tis dumb."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. xx. p. 199:

"They came upon a quantong-tree, and pausing beneath it, began

to pick up the fallen fruit. . . . There were so many

berries, each containing a shapely nut, that Honoria might

string a dozen necklaces."

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. ix. p. 79:

"I have forgotten to mention the quandong, a shrub bearing

a fruit the size and colour of cherries."

(2) The fruit of this tree, and also its kernel.

1885. J. Hood, `Land of the Fern,' p. 53:

"She had gone to string on a necklet of seeds from the

quongdong tree.'

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. xix.

p. 196:

"Miss Longleat was wild after quandongs."

[Footnote]: "A berry growing in the scrub, the kernels of which

are strung into necklaces."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 9:

"Another fruit of fraudulent type growing on the plains

is the quandong. Something in shape and colour like a

small crab-apple, it is fair enough to the eye, but in

taste thoroughly insipid."

<hw>Quart-pot</hw>, n. a tin vessel originally imported

as a measure, and containing an exact imperial quart. It had no

lid, but a side handle. Before 1850 the word Quart-pot,

for a kettle, was as universal in the bush as "Billy"

(q.v.) is now. The billy, having a lid and a wire handle by

which to suspend it over the fire, superseded the quart-pot

about 1851. In addition to the Billy, there is a

Quart-pot still in use, especially in South Australia

and the back-blocks. It has two sidehandles working in

sockets, so as to fold down flat when travelling. The lid is

an inverted pannikin fitted into it, and is used as a

drinking-cup.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 43:

"`Look out there!' he continued; `quart-pot corroborree,'

springing up and removing with one hand from the fire one

of the quart-pots, which was boiling madly."

<hw>Quart-pot Tea</hw>, n. Explained in quotations.

Cf. Billy-tea.

1878. Mrs. H. Jones, `Long Years in Australia,' p. 87:

"Ralph, taking a long draught of the quart-pot tea, pronounced

that nothing was ever like it made in teapots, and Ethel

thought it excellent, excepting that the tea-leaves were

troublesome."