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

White-backed W.—
<i>M. leuconotus</i>, Gould.

White-winged W.—
<i>M. leucopterus</i>, Quoy and Gaim.

See also <i>Scrub-Wren</i>.

In New Zealand, the name is applied to the Bush-Wren, <i>Xenicus longipes</i>, Gmel., and the Rock (or Mountain) Wren, <i>X. gilviventris</i>, von Pelz.

<hw>Wry-billed Plover</hw>, <i>n</i>. a very rare bird of New Zealand, <i>Anarhynchus frontalis</i>, Quoy and Gaim.

1889. Prof. Parker, `Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,' p. 116:

"The curious wry-billed plover . . . the only bird known in which the bill is turned not up or down, but to one side—the right."

<hw>Wurley</hw>, <i>n</i>. aboriginal name for an aboriginal's hut. For other words expressing the same thing, see list under <i>Humpy</i>. In the dialect of the South-East of South Australia <i>oorla</i> means a house, or a camp, or a bird's nest.

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 110:

"Seeking, hoping help to find;
Sleeping in deserted wurleys."