Austral English Part 168

Mongan, n. aboriginal name for the animal named in the quotation.

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 173:

"Jimmy, however, had, to my great delight, found mongan (Pseudochirus herbertensis), a new and very pretty mammal, whose habitat is exclusively the highest tops of the scrubs in the Coast Mountains."

Monk, n. another name for the Friar Bird (q.v.).

Monkey-Bear, or Monkey, n. i.q.

Native Bear. See Bear.

1853. C. St. Julian and E. K. Silvester, `The Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,'

p. 30:

"The Kola, so called by the aborigines, but more commonly known among the settlers as the native bear or monkey, is found in brush and forest lands ..."

1891. Mrs. Cross (Ada Cambridge), `The Three Miss Kings,'

p. 9:

"A little monkey-bear came cautiously down from the only gum-tree that grew on the premises, grunting and whimpering."

Monkey-shaft, n. "A shaft rising from a lower to a higher level (as a rule perpendicularly), and differing from a blind-shaft only in that the latter is sunk from a higher to a lower level." (Brough Smyth's `Glossary.')

1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of Goldfields,' p. 69:

"They began to think they might be already too deep for it, and a small `monkey'-shaft was therefore driven upwards from the end of the tunnel."

Monkeys, n. bush slang for sheep.

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

p. 88:

"No one felt better pleased than he did to see the last lot of `monkeys,' as the shearers usually denominated sheep, leave the head-station."

Monotreme, n. the scientific name of an order of Australian mammals (Monotremata). "The Monotremes derive their name from the circ.u.mstance that there is, as in birds and reptiles, but a single aperture at the hinder extremity of the body from which are discharged the whole of the waste-products, together with the reproductive elements; the oviducts opening separately into the end of this pa.s.sage, which is termed the cloaca. [Grk. monos, sole, and traema, a pa.s.sage or hole.] Reproduction is effected by means of eggs, which are laid and hatched by the female parent; after [being hatched] the young are nourished by milk secreted by special glands situated within a temporary pouch, into which the head of the young animal is inserted and retained... .

It was not until 1884 that it was conclusively proved that the Monotremes did actually lay eggs similar in structure to those of birds and reptiles." (R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia and Monotremata,' 1894, p. 227.)

The Monotremes are strictly confined to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are the Platypus (q.v.), and the Echidna (q.v.), or Ant-eating Porcupine.

Mooley-Apple, n. i.q. Emu-Apple (q.v.)

Moor-hen, n. common English bird-name (Gallinula). The Australian species are--

the Black, Gallinula tenebrosa, Gould; Rufous-tailed, G. ruficrissa, Gould.

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 169:

"The Rail-like bird, the Black-tailed Tribonyx, or Moor-Hen of the colonists, which, when strutting along the bank of a river, has a grotesque appearance, with the tail quite erect like that of a domestic fowl, and rarely resorts to flight." [The Tribonyx is called Native Hen, not Moorhen.]

Moon, v. tr. a process in opossum-shooting, explained in quotations.

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 182:

"`Mooning' opossums is a speciality with country boys. The juvenile hunter utilises the moon as a cavalry patrol would his field-gla.s.s for every suspected point."

1890. E. Davenport Cleland, `The White Kangaroo,' p. 66:

"They had to go through the process known as `mooning.'

Walking backwards from the tree, each one tried to get the various limbs and branches between him and the moon, and then follow them out to the uttermost bunch of leaves where the 'possum might be feeding."

Mopoke, n. aboriginal name for an Australian bird, from its note "Mopoke." There is emphasis on the first syllable, but much more on the second. Settlers very early attempted to give an English shape and sense to this name.

The attempt took two forms, "More pork," and "Mopehawk"; both forms are more than fifty years old.

The r sound, however, is not present in the note of the bird, although the form More-pork is perhaps even more popular than the true form Mopoke. The form Mope-hawk seems to have been adopted through dislike of the perhaps coa.r.s.er idea attaching to "pork." The quaint spelling Mawpawk seems to have been adopted for a similar reason.

The bird is heard far more often than seen, hence confusion has arisen as to what is the bird that utters the note.

The earlier view was that the bird was Podargus cuvieri, Vig. and Hors., which still popularly retains the name; whereas it is really the owl, Ninox b.o.o.book, that calls "morepork" or "mopoke" so loudly at night. Curiously, Gould, having already a.s.signed the name Morepork to Podargus, in describing the Owlet Night-jar varies the spelling and writes, "little Mawepawk, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land." The New Zealand Morepork is a.s.suredly an owl. The Podargus has received the name of Frogmouth and the Mopoke has sometimes been called a Cuckoo (q.v.). See also b.o.o.book, Frogsmouth.

The earliest ascertained use of the word is--

1827. h.e.l.lyer (in 1832), `Bischoff, Van Diemen's Land,'

p. 177:

"One of the men shot a `more pork.'"

The Bird's note--

1868. Carleton, `Australian Nights,' p. 19:

"The Austral cuckoo spoke His melancholy note--`Mo-poke.'"

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs and Wattle Bloom,' p. 236:

"Many a still night in the bush I have listened to the weird metallic call of this strange bird, the mopoke of the natives, without hearing it give expression to the pork-shop sentiments."

Podargus--

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. pl. 4:

"Podargus Cuvieri, Vig. and Horsf, More-pork of the Colonists."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 33:

"We are lulled to sleep by the melancholy, sleep-inspiring, and not disagreeable voices of the night bird Podargus-- `More-pork! more-pork!'"

1890. `Victorian Statutes-Game Act, Third Schedule.':

"Podargus or Mopoke. [Close Season.] The whole year."

Vague name of Cuckoo--