Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

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

"My forefathers reigned in this scrubdom of old."

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

<hw>Sea-Berry</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>Red-berry</i>.

<hw>Sea-Dragon</hw>, <i>n</i>. any Australian fish of any one of the three species of the genus <i>Phyllopteryx</i>, family <i>Syngnathidae</i>. The name of the genus comes from the Greek <i>phullon</i> = a leaf, and <i>pterux</i> = a wing. This genus is said by Guenther to be exclusively Australian. "Protective resemblance attains its highest degree of development," he says, in this genus. "Not only their colour closely assimilates that of the particular kind of sea-weed which they frequent, but the appendages of their spines seem to be merely part of the fucus to which they are attached. They attain a length of twelve inches." (`Study of Fishes,' p. 683.) The name, in England, is given to other and different fishes. The species <i>P. foliatus</i> is called the <i>Superb Dragon</i> (q.v.), from the beauty of its colours.

<hw>Sea-Perch</hw>, <i>n</i>. a name applied to different fishes—in Sydney, to the <i>Morwong</i> (q.v.) and <i>Bull's</i>-eye (q.v.); in New Zealand, to <i>Sebastes percoides</i>, called <i>Pohuiakawa</i> (q.v.); in Melbourne, to <i>Red-Gurnard</i> (q.v.). See <i>Red Gurnet-Perch</i>.

<hw>Sea-Pig</hw>, <i>n</i>. a small whale, the <i>Dugong</i>. See under <i>Dugong-oil</i>.

1853. S. Sidney, `Three Colonies of Australia,' p. 267:

"The aborigines eagerly pursue the dugong, a species of small whale, generally known to the colonists as the sea-pig."

<hw>Sea-Pike</hw>, <i>n</i>. a fish of New South Wales, <i>Lanioperca mordax</i>, Gunth., of the family <i>Sphyraenidae</i>. The name belongs to the Sydney fish-market.