Austral English Part 281

1885. Wanderer, `Beauteous Terrorist,' etc., p. 62:

"And the waratahs in state, With their queenly heads elate, And their flamy blood-red crowns, And their stiff-frill'd emerald gowns."

1888. D. Macdonald, I Gum Boughs,' p. 188:

"Outside the tropical Queensland forests, the scarlet flowering gum of Western Australia, and the Waratah, of Blue Mountains fame, are its [i.e. the wattle's] only rivals."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 5, p. 9, col. 1:

"The memory of many residents runs back to the time when the waratah and the Christmas-bush, the native rose and fuchsia, grew where thickly-peopled suburbs now exist... . The waratah recedes yearly."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Sept. 2, p. 5, col. 6:

"The wattles and waratahs are creditable instances of the value of our Australian flowers for art purposes, and the efforts of the artists to win recognition for their adaptability as subjects for the artist's brush are deserving of acknowledgment."

Warbler, n. This English birdname is applied loosely to many birds of different genera in Australia and New Zealand.

The majority of the Australian Warblers have now had other names a.s.signed to them. (See Fly-eater and Gerygone.) The name has been retained in Australia for the following species--

Gra.s.s Warbler-- Cisticola exilis, Lath.

Grey W.-- Gerygone flaviventris, Gray.

Long-billed Reed W.-- Calamoherpe longirostris, Gould.

Reed W.-- Acrocephalus australis, Gould.

Rock W.-- Origma rubricata, Lath.

In New Zealand, it is now only specifically applied to the--

Bush Warbler-- Gerygone silvestris, Potts.

Chatham Island W.-- G. albofrontata, Gray.

Grey W.-- G. flaviventris, Gray; Maori name, Riro-riro.

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

119:

"Grey Warbler (Gerygone flaviventris) also belongs to an Australian genus. It is remarkable for its curious and beautifully formed nest, and as being the foster-parent to the Longtailed Cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the Warbler's nest."

Warden, n. The term is applied specifically to the Government officer, with magisterial and executive powers, in charge of a goldfield.

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. iv. p. 141:

"The chief official in a digging settlement, the padra [sic] of the district, is ent.i.tled the warden."

Warehou, n. Maori name for the fish Neptonemus brama, Gunth., called Snotgall-Trevally in Tasmania, and called also Sea-Bream. See Trevally.

Warrener, n. a name applied by Tasmanian children to the larger specimens of the sh.e.l.ls called Mariners (q.v.). The name is an adaptation, by the law of Hobson-Jobson, from a Tasmanian aboriginal word, Yawarrenah, given by Milligan (`Vocabulary,' 1890), as used by tribes, from Oyster Bay to Pitt.w.a.ter, for the ear-sh.e.l.l (Haliotis). The name has thus pa.s.sed from sh.e.l.l to sh.e.l.l, and in its English application has pa.s.sed on also to the marine sh.e.l.l, Turbo undulatus.

Warrigal, n. and adj. an aboriginal word, originally meaning a Dog. Afterwards extended as an adjective to mean wild; then used for a wild horse, wild natives, and in bush-slang for a worthless man. The following five quotations from vocabularies prove the early meaning of the word in the Port Jackson district, and its varying uses at later dates elsewhere.

1793. Governor Hunter, `Port Jackson,' p. 411:

"Warregal--a large dog."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 614 [Vocab.]:

"Wor-re-gal--dog."

1859. D. Bunce, `Language of Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 17:

"Ferocious, savage, wild--warragul." (adj.)

Ibid. p. 46:

"Wild savage--worragal." (noun.) 1879.

Wyatt, `Manners of Adelaide Tribes,' p. 21:

"Warroo=wild."

The quotations which follow are cla.s.sed under the different meanings borne by the word.

(1) A Wild Dog.

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 153:

"I have heard that the dingo, warragal or native dog, does not hunt in packs like the wolf and jackal."

1880. J. Holdsworth, `Station Hunting':

"To scoop its gra.s.sless grave Past reach of kites and prowling warrigals."

1887. `Ill.u.s.trated Australian News,' March 5:

[A picture of two dingoes, and beneath them the following quotation from Kendall--]:

"The warrigal's lair is pent in bare Black rocks, at the gorge's mouth."

1888. `Australian Ballads and Rhymes' (edition Sladen),, p. 297:

"The following little poem, ent.i.tled `The Warrigal' (Wild Dog) will prove that he (H. Kendall) observed animal life as faithfully as still life and landscape:

`The sad marsh-fowl and the lonely owl Are heard in the fog-wreath's grey, Where the Warrigal wakes, and listens and takes To the woods that shelter the prey.'"

1890. G. A. Sala, in `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 1: