Austral English Part 75

Whistling E.-- Haliaetus sphenurus, Vieill.

White-bellied Sea E.-- H. leucogaster, Gmel.

White-headed Sea E.-- Haliaster girrenera, Vieill.

Eaglehawk, n. an Australian name for the bird Uroaetus, or Aquila audax, Lath. The name was applied to the bird by the early colonists of New South Wales, and has persisted. In `O.E.D.' it is shown that the name was used in Griffith's translation (1829) of Cuvier's `Regne Animal' as a translation of the French aigle-autour, Cuvier's name for a South American bird of prey of the genus Morphnus, called Spizaetus by Vieillot; but it is added that the word never came into English use. See Eagle. There is a town in Victoria called Eaglehawk.

The Bendigo cabmen make the name a monosyllable, "Glawk."

1834. L. E. Threlkeld, `Australian Grammar, p. 56:

"The large eaglehawk, which devours young kangaroos, lambs, etc."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. i. pl. 1:

"Aquila Fucosa, Cuv., [now A. audax, Lath.]

Wedge-tailed eagle. Eaglehawk, Colonists of New South Wales."

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,' p. 106:

"We knew it was dying, as two large eaglehawks were hovering about over it."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 251:

"The hair of a person is tied on the end of the throwing-stick, together with the feathers of the eagle hawk."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia', p. 106:

"Since the destruction of native dogs and eagle-hawks by the squatters, who stocked the country with sheep, the kangaroos have not a single natural enemy left."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 35:

"On the New South Wales side of the river the eagle-hawk is sometimes so great a pest amongst the lambs that the settlers periodically burn him out by climbing close enough to the nest to put a fire-stick in contact with it."

Eagle-hawking, n. bush slang: plucking wool off dead sheep.

Eagle-Ray, n. name belonging to any large Ray of the family Myliobatidae; the New Zealand species is Myliobatis nieuhofii.

Eastralia, n. recent colloquial name, fas.h.i.+oned on the model of Westralia (q.v.), used in West Australia for the Eastern Colonies. In Adelaide, its application seems confined to New South Wales.

Ebony, n. a timber. The name is applied in Australia to two species of Bauhinia, B. carronii, F. v. M., and B. hookeri, F. v. M., N.O. Leguminosae. Both are called Queensland or Mountain Ebony.

Echidna, n. a fossorial Monotreme, in general appearance resembling a Porcupine, and often called Spiny Ant-eater or Porcupine, or Porcupine Ant-eater. The body is covered with thick fur from which stiff spines protrude; the muzzle is in the form of a long toothless beak; and the tongue is very long and extensile, and used largely for licking up ants; the feet are short, with strong claws adapted for burrowing. Like the Marsupials, the Echidna is provided with a pouch, but the animal is oviparous, usually laying two eggs at a time, which are carried about in the pouch until the young ones are hatched, when they are fed by a secretion from mammary glands, which do not, however, as in other mammals, open on to a nipple. The five-toed Echidnas (genus Echidna) are found in New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania, while the three-toed Echidnas (genus Proechidna) are confined to New Guinea. The species are--Common E., Echidna aculeata, Shaw; Bruijn's E., Proechidna bruijni, Peters and Doria; Black-spined E., Proechidna nigro-aculeata, Rothschild. The name is from Grk. 'echidna, an adder or viper, from the shape of the long tongue.

1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' c. ii. p. 29:

"The native porcupine or echidna is not very common."

1843. J.Backhouse, `Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies,' p. 89:

"The Porcupine of this land, Echidna hystrix, is a squat species of ant-eater, with short quills among its hair: it conceals itself in the day time among dead timber in the hilly forests."

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 178:

"Mr. Milligan mentioned that one of the Aborigines of Tasmania reports having often discovered the nest of the Echidna Setosa, porcupine or ant eater, of the colony; that on several occasions one egg had been found in it, and never more: this egg has always been found to contain a foetus or chick, and is said to be round, considerably less than a tennis ball, and without a sh.e.l.l. The mother is said to sit continuously (for a period not ascertained) in the manner of the common fowl over the eggs; she does not leave the young for a considerable time after having hatched it; at length, detaching it from the small teat, she moves out hurriedly and at long intervals in quest of food, the young one becoming, at each successive return, attached to the nipple... The Platypus (Ornithorhyncus paradoxus) is said to lay two eggs, having the same external membranous covering, but of an oblong shape."

1860. G. Bennett,' Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia,'

p. 147:

"The Porcupine Ant-eater of Australia (Echidna hystrix) (the native Porcupine or Hedgehog of the colonists), and the Ornithorhynchus, to which it is allied in internal organization, form the only two genera of the order Monotremata."

1888. Ca.s.sell's' Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 230:

"Among the gigantic boulders near the top he may capture the burrowing ant-eating porcupine, though if perchance he place it for a moment in the stoniest ground, it will tax all his strength to drag it from the instantaneous burrow in which it will defiantly embed itself."

1892. A.Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,'

p. 273:

"The echidna is an animal about a foot or 18 inches long, covered with spines like a hedgehog. It lives chiefly upon ants. With its bill, which is like a duck's but narrower, it burrows into an ant's-hill, and then with its long, whip-like, sticky tongue, draws the ants into its mouth by hundreds."

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia and Monotremata,' p. 247:

"In order to enable them to procure with facility their food of ants and their larvae, echidnas are provided with very large glands, discharging into the mouth the viscid secretion which causes the ants to adhere to the long worm-like tongue when thrust into a ma.s.s of these insects, after being exposed by the digging powers of the claws of the echidna's limbs... .

When attacked they roll themselves into a ball similar to the hedgehog."

Echu, n. the name of an Australian bird which has not been identified. The word does not occur in the ornithological lists.

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems--Evening Hymn,' p. 53:

"The echu's songs are dying with the flute-bird's mellow tone."

1896. `The Australasian,' Jan. 11, p. 73, col. 1:

"`Yeldina' (Rochester) writes--While I was on the Murray, a few days before Christmas last, some miles below Echuca, my attention was attracted to the melancholy note, as of a bird which had lost its mate, calling ee-k-o-o, e-e-koo, which was repeated several times, after which a pause, then ee-koo, ee-ko, coolie, coolie, ee-koo. This happened in the scrub at sunset, and came, I think, from a bird smaller than the Australian minah, and of a greenish yellowish hue, larger, but similar to the members of the feathered tribe known to young city `knights of the catapult' as greenies. It was while returning to camp from fis.h.i.+ng that I noticed this bird, which appeared of solitary habits."

"`Crossbolt' (Kew) writes--The echu is probably identical with a handsome little bird whose peculiar cry `e-e-choo' is familiar to many bush ramblers. It is the size of a small wood-swallow; black head, back, wings, and tail more or less blue-black; white throat; neck and breast light to rich brown. The female is much plainer, and would scarcely be recognized as the mate of the former. The melodious `e-e-choo'

is usually answered from a distance, whether by the female or a rival I cannot say, and is followed by a prolonged warbling."

Eel, n. The kinds present in Australia are--

Common Eel-- Anguilla australis, Richards.

Conger E.-- Conger l.a.b.i.atus, Castin., and Gonorhynchus grayi, Richards.

Green E. (New South Wales)-- Muroena afra, Bl.

Silver E.-- Muroenesox cinereus, Forsk.; also called the Sea-eel (New South Wales).

Conger wilsoni, Castln. (Melbourne).

The New Zealand Eels are--