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 - Edward Ellis Morris

"When I told them of my `dart,' some were contemptuous, others incredulous."

1892. Rolf Boldrewood, `Nevermore,' p. 22:

"Your only dart is to buy a staunch horse with a tip-cart."

(2) Particular fancy or personal taste.

1895. Modern:

"`Fresh strawberries eh!—that's my dart,' says the bushman when he sees the fruit lunch in Collins-street."

<hw>Darter</hw>, n. common English name for birds of the genus Plotus. So called from the way it "darts" upon its prey. The Australian species is Plotus novae- hollandiae, Gould.

<hw>Dasyure</hw>, and <hw>Dasyurus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Australian animals called Native Cats. See under Cat. The first form is the Anglicized spelling and is scientifically used in preference to the misleading vernacular name. From the Greek dasus, thick with hair, hairy, shaggy, and 'oura, tail. They range over Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the adjacent islands. Unlike the Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil (q.v.), which are purely terrestrial, the Dasyurus are arboreal in their habits, while they are both carnivorous and insectivorous.

The Thylacine, Tasmanian Devil, Pouched Mice, and Banded Ant-eater have sometimes been incorrectly classed as Dasyures, but the name is now strictly allotted to the genus Dasyurus, or Native Cat.

<hw>Date, Native</hw>, n. a Queensland fruit, Capparis canescens, Banks, N.O. Capparideae. The fruit is shaped like a pear, and about half an inch in its largest diameter. It is eaten raw by the aborigines.