Austral English Part 33

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compa.s.s in Australia,' p. 23:

"The glare of a hard and pitiless sky overhead, the infinite vista of saltbush, brigalow, stay-a-while, and mulga, the creeks only stretches of stone, and no shelter from the shadeless gums."

Brill, n. a small and very bony rhomboidal fish of New Zealand, Pseudorhombus scaphus, family Pleuronectidae. The true Brill of Europe is Rhombus levis.

Brisbane Daisy, n. See Daisy, Brisbane.

Bristle-bird, n. a name given to certain Australian Reed-warblers. They are--Sphenura brachyptera, Latham; Long-tailed B.--S. longirostris, Gould; Rufous-headed B.--S. broadbentii, McCoy. See Sphenura.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,'

vol. xv. p. 232:

"He (Mr. Caley) calls it in his notes `Bristle Bird.'"

Broad-leaf, n. a settlers' name for Griselinia littoralis, Raoul; Maori name, Paukatea.

1879. W. N. Blair, `Building Materials of Otago,' p. 155:

"There are few trees in the [Otago] bush so conspicuous or so well known as the broad-leaf... . It grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet, and a diameter of from three to six; the bark is coa.r.s.e and fibrous, and the leaves a beautiful deep green of great brilliancy."

1879. J. B. Armstrong, `Transactions of New Zealand Inst.i.tute,' vol. xii. Art. 49, p. 328:

"The broadleaf (Griselinia littoralis) is abundant in the district [of Banks' Peninsula], and produces a hard red wood of a durable nature."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 103:

"The rough trunks and limbs of the broadleaf."

Broker, n. Australian slang for a man completely ruined, stonebroke.

1891. `The Australasian,' Nov. 21, p. 1014:

"We're nearly `dead brokers,' as they say out here. Let's harness up Eclipse and go over to old Yamnibar."

Bronze-wing, n. a bird with a l.u.s.trous shoulder, Phaps chalcoptera, Lath. Called also Bronze-wing Pigeon.

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 145:

"One of the gold-winged pigeons, of which a plate is annexed.

[Under plate, Golden-winged Pigeon.] This bird is a curious and singular species remarkable for having most of the feathers of the wing marked with a brilliant spot of golden yellow, changing, in various reflections of light, to green and copper-bronze, and when the wing is closed, forming two bars of the same across it."

1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' vol. ii. p. 31:

"The pigeons are by far the most beautiful birds in the island; they are called bronze-winged pigeons."

1857. W. Howitt, `Tallangetta,' vol. ii. p. 57:

"Mr. Fitzpatrick followed his kangaroo hounds, and shot his emus, his wild turkeys, and his bronze-wings."

1865. `Once a Week.' `The Bulla-Bulla Bunyip.'

"Hours ago the bronze-wing pigeons had taken their evening draught from the coffee-coloured water-hole beyond the butcher's paddock, and then flown back into the bush to roost on `honeysuckle' and in heather."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 122:

"Another most beautiful pigeon is the `bronze-wing,' which is nearly the size of the English wood-pigeon, and has a magnificent purply-bronze speculum on the wings."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 33:

"Both the bronze-wing and Wonga-Wonga pigeon are hunted so keenly that in a few years they will have become extinct in Victoria."

1893. `The Argus,' March 25, p. 4, col. 6:

"Those who care for museum studies must have been interested in tracing the Australian quail and pigeon families to a point where they blend their separate ident.i.ties in the partridge bronze-wing of the Central Australian plains. The eggs mark the converging lines just as clearly as the birds, for the partridge-pigeon lays an egg much more like that of a quail than a pigeon, and lays, quail fashion, on the ground."

Brook-Lime, n. English name for an aquatic plant, applied in Australia to the plant Gratiola pedunculata, R. Br., N.O. Scrophularinae. Also called Heartsease.

Broom, n. name applied to the plant Calycothrix tetragona, Lab., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Broom, Native, n. an Australian timber, Viminaria denudala, Smith, N.O. Leguminosae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 612:

"Native broom. Wood soft and spongy."

Broom, Purple, n. a Tasmanian name for Comesperma retusum, Lab., N.O. Polygaleae.

Brown Snake, n. See under Snake.

Brown-tail, n. bird-name for the Tasmanian t.i.t. See t.i.t.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii, pl. 54:

"Acanthiza Diemenensis, Gould. Brown-tail, colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

Brown Tree-Lizard, n. of New Zealand, Naultinus pacificus.

Browny or Brownie, n. a kind of currant loaf.

1890. E. D. Cleland, `The White kangaroo,' p. 57:

"Cake made of flour, fat and sugar, commonly known as `Browny.'"

1890. `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 57:

"Four o'clock. `Smoke O!' again with more bread and brownie (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants)."

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compa.s.s,' p. 36: