Austral English Part 138

"On the 4th of November last the distinguished surgeon, Mr. John Wood, F.R.S., exhibited before the Pathological Society of London the colon of a sheep, in which the operation known as Colotomy had been performed by a Parrot ... the species known as the `Kea' by the Maoris, the `Mountain Parrot'

of the colonists, Nestor notabilis of Gould. Only five species ... are known, one of which (Nestor productus) has lately become extinct; they only occur in New Zealand and Norfolk Island. They were formerly cla.s.sed among the Trichoglossinae or brush-tongued parrots ... more nearly allied to true Psittaci ... Its ordinary food consists of berries and insects; but since its Alpine haunts have been reached by the tide of civilization, it has acquired a taste for raw flesh, to obtain which it even attacks living animals."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 176:

"We have the h.o.a.ry-headed nestors, amongst which are found the noisy honey-loving kaka, the hardy kea, that famous sheep- killer and flesh-eater, the dread of many an Alpine sheep farmer."

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i.

p. 166:

"Nestor notabilis, Gould, Kea-parrot, Mountain-parrot of the Colonists."

1888. `Antipodean Notes,' p. 74:

"The Kea picks the fat which surrounds the kidneys... .

Various theories have been started to explain how this parrot has become carnivorous."

[Two pages are devoted to the question.]

1889. Ca.s.sell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 19:

"The kea-parrot... . The kea is pretty to look at, having rich red and green plumage, but it is a cruel bird. It is said that it will fasten on the back of a living sheep and peck its way down to the kidney-fat, for which this parrot has a special fancy. No tourist need feel compunction about shooting a kea."

1893. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' vol. i. p. 445:

"Another very interesting group of birds are the large dull colonial parrots of the genus Nestor, called kea or kaka by the natives from their peculiar cries. Their natural food is berries ... but of late years the kea (Nestor notabilis), a mountain species found only in the South Island, has developed a curious liking for meat, and now attacks living sheep, settling on their backs and tearing away the skin and flesh to get at the kidney fat."

1895. `Otago Witness,' Dec. 26, p. 3, col. 1:

"There is in the Alpine regions of the South Island a plant popularly called the `vegetable sheep,' botanically named Raoulia. From the distance of even a few yards it looks like a sheep. It grows in great ma.s.ses, and consists of a woolly vegetation. A large specimen of this singular plant was exhibited in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. It is said that the kea was in the habit of tearing it up to get at the grubs which harbour within the ma.s.s, and that mistaking dead sheep for vegetable sheep it learned the taste of mutton. A more enterprising generation preferred its mutton rather fresher."

Kelp-fish, n. In New Zealand, also called b.u.t.ter-fish (q.v.), Coridodax pullus, Forst.

In Tasmania, Odax baleatus, Cuv. and Val.; called also Ground Mullet by the fishermen. In Victoria, Chironemus marmoratus, Gunth. Coridodax and Odax belong to the family Labridae or Wra.s.ses, which comprises the Rock-Whitings; Chironemus to the family Cirrhitidae. The name is also given in New Zealand to another fish, the Spotty (q.v.).

These fishes are all different from the Californian food- fishes of the same name.

1841. J. Richardson, `Description of Australian Fishes,'

p. 148:

"This fish is known at Port Arthur by the appellation of `Kelp-fish,' I suppose from its frequenting the thickets of the larger fuci."

Kennedya, n. the scientific name of a genus of perennial leguminous herbs of the bean family-named, in 1804, after Mr. Kennedy, a gardener at Hammersmith, near London.

There are seventeen species, all natives of Australia and Tasmania, many of them cultivated for the sake of their showy flowers and berries. Others lie near the ground like a vetch; K. prostrata is called the Coral Pea (q.v.), or Bleeding Heart, or Native Scarlet Runner, or Running Postman. Another species is called Australian Sarsaparilla. See Sarsaparilla.

1885. R. M. Praed, `The Head Station,' p. 294:

"Taking off his felt hat, he twisted round it a withe of crimson Kennedia, then put it on again."

Kestrel, n. the common English name for a falcon. According to Gould the Australian species is identical with Cerchneis tinnunculus, a European species, but Vigors and Horsfield differentiate it as Tinnunculus cenchroides.

1893. `The Argus,' March 25, p. 4, col. 5:

"The kestrel's nest we always found in the fluted gums that overhung the creek, the red eggs resting on the red mould of the decaying trunk being almost invisible."

Kia ora, interj. Maori phrase used by English in the North Island of New Zealand, and meaning "Health to you!"

A private letter (1896) says--"You will hear any day at a Melbourne bar the first man say Keora ta-u, while the other says Keora tatu, so replacing "Here's to you!"

These expressions are corruptions of the Maori, Kia ora taua, "Health to us too!" and Kia ora tatou, "Health to all of us!"

Kie-kie, n. Maori name for a climbing plant, Freycinetia banksii, N.O. Pandanaceae; frequently p.r.o.nounced ghi-ghi in the North Island of New Zealand, and gay-gie in the South Island.

1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' p. 77:

"The trees were ... covered with a kind of parasite plant, called a keekee, having a thick cabbage-like stock."

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf' (Notes), p. 505:

"Kie-kie (parasite)... . A lofty climber; the bracts and young spikes make a very sweet preserve."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 20:

"The unused food ... of our little camp, together with the empty kie-kie baskets."

[sc. baskets made of kie-kie leaves.]

Kiley, n. aboriginal word in Western Australia for a flat weapon, curved for throwing, made plane on one side and slightly convex on the other. A kind of boomerang.

1839. Nathaniel Ogle, `The Colony of Western Australia,'

p. 57:

"In every part of this great continent they have the koilee, or boomerang ..."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. 1.

c. iv. p. 72:

"One of them had a kiley or bomerang."

1872. Mrs. E. Millett, `An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia,' p. 222:

"The flat curved wooden weapon, called a kylie, which the natives have invented for the purpose of killing several birds out of a flock at one throw, looks not unlike a bird itself as it whizzes (or walks as natives say) through the air in its circular and ascending flight..."

1885 Lady Barker, `Letters to Guy,' p. 177:

"More wonderful and interesting, however, is it to see them throw the kylie (what is called the boomerang in other parts of Australia), a curiously curved and flat stick, about a foot long and two or three inches wide... . There are heavier `ground kylies,' which skim along the ground, describing marvellous turns and twists, and they would certainly break the leg of any bird or beast they hit; but their gyrations are nothing compared to those of a good air-kylie in skilful hands."

Kinaki, n. a Maori word for food eaten with another kind to give it a relish. Compare Grk. 'opson.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'

(Church Missionary Society), p. 164:

"Kinaki. Victuals, added for variety's sake."