"The best known are . . . and the <i>Blue Wren</i> or <i>Superb
Warbler</i> (<i>Malurus cyaneus</i>), both of which I have
repeatedly watched in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. . . .
They dart about the pathways like mice, but rarely seem to fly.
There are a dozen other Superb Warblers."
<hw>Supple-jack</hw>, <i>n</i>. The word is English in the sense of a strong cane, and is the name of various climbing shrubs from which the canes are cut; especially in America. In Australia, the name is given to similar creeping plants, viz.—<i>Ventilago viminalis</i>, Hook., <i>N.O. Rhamnaceae</i>; <i>Clematis aristata</i>, R. Br., <i>N.O. Ranunculaceae</i>. In New Zealand, to <i>Ripogonum</i> (spp.).
1818. `History of New South Wales,' p. 47:
"The underwood is in general so thick and so bound together by that kind of creeping shrub called supple-jack, interwoven in all directions, as to be absolutely impenetrable."
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 218:
"After a tedious march . . . along a track constantly obstructed by webs of the kareau, or supple-jack, we came to the brow of a descent."
1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand, the Britain of the South,' vol. i. p. 135:
"Supple-jack snares, root-traps, and other parasitical impediments."
1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 135:
"Two kinds of creepers extremely molesting and troublesome, the so-called `supple-jack' of the colonists (<i>Ripogonum parviflorum</i>), in the ropelike creeping vines of which the traveller finds himself every moment entangled."