"We suddenly heard the loud shrill <i>couis</i> of the natives."
1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 231:
"Their cooieys are not always what we understand by the word, viz., a call in which the first note is low and the second high, uttered after sound of the word cooiey. This is a note which congregates all together and is used only as a simple `Here.'"
1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 91:
"Like the natives of New South Wales, they called to each other from a great distance by the <i>cooey</i>; a word meaning `come to me.' The Sydney blacks modulated this cry with successive inflexions; the Tasmanian uttered it with less art. It is a sound of great compass. The English in the bush adopt it: the first syllable is prolonged; the second is raised to a higher key, and is sharp and abrupt."
1862. W. Landsborough, `Exploration of Australia,' [Footnote] p. 24:
"<i>Coo-oo-oo-y</i> is a shrill treble cry much used in the bush by persons wishful to find each other. On a still night it will travel a couple of miles, and it is thus highly serviceable to lost or benighted travellers."
1869. J. F. Townend, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 155:
"The jingling of bells round the necks of oxen, the cooey of the black fellow . . . constituted the music of these desolate districts."
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 82: