Austral English. Edward Ellis Morris

Austral English

Gray, called also Wild Turkey, Native Turkey, and Plain Turkey. See Turkey.

<hw>Buster, Southerly</hw>, n. The word is a corruption of `burster,' that which bursts. A sudden and violent squall from the south. The name, used first in Sydney, has been adopted also in other Australian cities. See Brickfielder.

1863. F. Fowler, in `Athenaeum,' Feb. 21, p. 264, col. 1:

"The cold wind or southerly buster which … carries a thick cloud of dust … across the city."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 587:

"Southerly Busters by `Ironbark.'"

1886. F. Cowan, `Australia, a Charcoal Sketch':

"The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard; and red-hot Simoom."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 40:

"Generally these winds end in what is commonly called a `southerly buster.' This is preceded by a lull in the hot wind; then suddenly (as it has been put) it is as though a bladder of cool air were exploded, and the strong cool southerly air drives up with tremendous force. However pleasant the change of temperature may be it is no mere pastime to be caught in a `southerly buster,' but the drifting rain which always follows soon sets matters right, allays the dust, and then follows the calm fresh bracing wind which is the more delightful by contrast with the misery through which one has passed for three long dreary days and nights."

1893. `The Australasian,' Aug. 12, p. 302, col. 1:

"You should see him with Commodore Jack out in the teeth of the `hard glad weather,' when a southerly buster sweeps up the harbour."

1896. H. A.Hunt, in `Three Essays on Australian Weather' (Sydney), p. 16:

An Essay on Southerly Bursters, … with Four Photographs and Five Diagrams."

[Title of an essay which was awarded the prize of L 25 offered by the Hon. Ralph Abercrombie.]

<hw>Butcher</hw>, n. South Australian slang for a long drink of beer, so-called (it is said) because the men of a certain butchery in Adelaide used this refreshment regularly; cf. "porter" in England, after the drink of the old London porters.

<hw>Butcher-bird</hw>, n. The name is in use elsewhere, but in Australia it is applied to the genus Cracticus. The varieties are—

The Butcher-bird—

Cracticus torquatus, Lath.; formerly

C. destructor, Gould.

Black B.—

C. quoyi, Less.

Black-throated B.—

C. nigrigularis, Gould.

Grey B. (Derwent Jackass)—

C. cinereus, Gould (see Jackass).

Pied B.—

C. picatus, Gould.

Rufous B.—

C. rufescens, De Vis.

Silver-backed B.—

C. argenteus, Gould.

Spalding's B.—

C. spaldingi, Masters.

White-winged B.—

C. leucopterus, Cav.

The bird is sometimes called a Crow-shrike.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 213:

"Mr. Caley observes—Butcher-bird. This bird used frequently to come into some green wattle-trees near my house, and in wet weather was very noisy; from which circumstance it obtained the name of `Rain-bird.'"

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. Pl. 52:

"Cracticus Destructor. Butcher Bird, name given by colonists of Swan River, a permanent resident in New South Wales and South Australia. I scarcely know of any Australian bird so generally dispersed."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 50:

"Close to the station one or two butcher-birds were piping their morning song, a strange little melody with not many notes, which no one who has heard it will ever forget."

<hw>Buttercup</hw>, n. The familiar English flower is represented in Australia and Tasmania by various species of Ranunculus, such as R. lappaceus, Sm., N.O. Ranunculaceae.

<hw>Butter-fish</hw>, n. a name given in Australia to Oligorus mitchellii, Castln. (see Murray Perch); in Victoria, to Chilodactylus nigricans, Richards. (see Morwong); in New Zealand, to Coridodax pullus, Forst., called also Kelp-fish. The name is in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus. See Kelp-fish.

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip,' vol. iii. p. 44:

"In the bay are large quantities of … butter-fish."

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 533:

"The `butter-fish,' or `kelp-fish' of the colonists of New Zealand (C. pullus), is prized as food, and attains to a weight of four or five pounds."

<hw>Butterfly-conch</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for a marine univalve mollusc, Voluta papillosa, Swainson.

<hw>Butterfly-fish</hw>, n. a New Zealand sea-fish, Gasterochisma melampus, Richards., one of the Nomeidae. The ventral fins are exceedingly broad and long, and can be completely concealed in a fold of the abdomen. The New Zealand fish is so named from these fins; the European Butterfly-fish, Blennius ocellaris, derives its name from the spots on its dorsal fin, like the eyes in a peacock's tail or butterfly's wing.

<hw>Butterfly-Lobster</hw>, n. a marine crustacean, so called from the leaf-like expansion of the antennae. It is "the highly specialized macrourous decapod Ibacus Peronii." (W. A. Haswell.)

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 248:

"Those curious crustaceans that I have heard called `butterfly lobsters' … the shell of the head and body (properly known as the carapace) expands into something like wing-forms, entirely hiding the legs beneath them."

<hw>Butterfly-Plant</hw>, n. a small flowering plant, Utricularia dichotoma, Lab., N.O. Leutibularina.

<hw>Button-grass</hw>, n. Schaenus sphaerocephalus, Poiret, N.O. Cyperaceae. The grass is found covering barren boggy land in Tasmania, but is not peculiar to Tasmania. So called from the round shaped flower (capitate inflorescence), on a thin stalk four or five feet long, like a button on the end of a foil.

<hw>Buzzard</hw>, n. an English bird-name applied in Australia to Gypoictinia melanosternon, Gould, the Black-breasted Buzzard.

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<hw>Cabbage Garden</hw>, a name applied to the colony of Victoria by Sir John Robertson,

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