Austral English Part 229

"Almost all the Scrub-trees of the Condamine and Kent's Lagoon were still to be seen at the Burdekin."

Scrub-Turkey, n. an Australian bird, Leipoa ocellata, Gould; aboriginal name, the Lowan (q.v.).

See Turkey.

Scrub-Vine, n. called also Native Rose.

See Bauera (q.v.).

Scrub-Wren, n. any little bird of the Australian genus Sericornis. The species are--

Brown Scrub-Wren-- Sericornis humilis, Gould.

Buff breasted S.-W.-- S. laevigaster, Gould.

Collared S.-W.-- S. gutturalis, Gould.

Large-billed Scrub-Wren-- Sericornis magnirostris, Gould.

Little S.-W.-- S. minimus, Gould.

Spotted S.-W.-- S. maculatus, Gould.

Spotted-throated S.-W.-- S. osculans, Gould.

White-browed S.-W.-- S. frontalis, Vig. & Hors.

Yellow-throated S.-W.-- S. citreogularis, Gould.

Scrubber, n. (1) a bullock that has taken to the scrub and so become wild. See Scrub-cattle.

Also formerly used for a wild horse, now called a Brumby (q.v.).

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' c. xxix:

"The captain was getting in the scrubbers, cattle which had been left to run wild through in the mountains."

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:

"There are few field-sports anywhere ... equal to `hunting scrubbers.'"

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 93:

"Out flew the ancient scrubber, instinctively making towards his own wild domain."

1887. W. S. S. Tyrwhitt, `The New Chum in the Queensland Bush,' p. 151:

"There are also wild cattle, which are either cattle run wild or descendants of such. They are commonly called `scrubbers,'

because they live in the larger scrubs."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 405:

"Here I am boxed up, like a scrubber in a pound, year after year."

1893. `The Argus,' April 29, p. 4, col. 4 (`Getting in the Scrubbers'):

"The scrubbers, unseen of men, would stay in their fastnesses all day chewing the cud they had laid up the night before, and when the sun went down and the strident laugh of the giant kingfisher had given place to the insidious air-piercing note of the large-mouthed podargus, the scrub would give up its inhabitants."

(2) A starved-looking or ill-bred animal.

(3) The word is sometimes applied to mankind in the slang sense of an "outsider." It is used in University circles as equivalent to the Oxford "smug," a man who will not join in the life of the place. See also Bush-scrubber.

1868. `Colonial Monthly,' vol. ii. p. 141 [art. `Peggy's Christening]:

"`I can answer for it, that they are scrubbers--to use a bush phrase--have never been brought within the pale of any church.'

"`Never been christened?' asked the priest.

"`Have no notion of it--scrubbers, sir--never been branded.'"

Scrubby, adj. belonging to, or resembling scrub.

1802. Jas. Flemming, `Journal of the Exploration of C.

Grimes' [at Port Phillip, Australia], ed. by J. J.

Shillinglaw, 1879, Melbourne, p. 17:

"The land appeared barren, a scrubby brush."

[p. 221: "The trees low and scrubby."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 19:

"To-day I ... pa.s.sed a scrubby ironbark forest.".

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 216:

"A scrubby country is a stockman's abhorrence, as there he cannot ride, at least at any pace."

1868. J. A. B., `Meta,' c. i. p. 9:

"'Twere madness to attempt to chase, In such a wild and scrubby place, Australia's savage steer."

Scrubdom, n. the land of scrub.

1889. C. A. Sherard, `Daughter of South,' p. 29:

"My forefathers reigned in this scrubdom of old."

Scythrops, n. scientific name for a genus of birds belonging to the Cuculidae, or Cuckoos (from Grk. skuthrowpos = angry-looking). The only species known is peculiar to Australia, where it is called the Channel-Bill, a name given by Latham (`General History of Birds,' vol. ii.). White (1790) calls it the Anomalous Hornbill (`Journal 1790,' pl. at p. 142).

Sea-Berry, n. See Red-berry.