<hw>Notornis</hw>, <i>n</i>. a bird of New Zealand allied to the <i>Porphyrio</i> (q.v.), first described from a fossil skull by Professor Owen (1848), and then thought to be extinct, like the Moa. Professor Owen called the bird <i>Notornis mantelli</i>, and, curiously enough, Mr. Walter Mantell, in whose honour the bird was named, two years afterwards captured a live specimen; a third specimen was captured in 1879. The word is from the Greek <i>notos</i>, south, and <i>'ornis</i>, bird. The Maori names were <i>Moho</i> and <i>Takahe</i> (q.v.).
<hw>Notoryctes</hw>, <i>n</i>. the scientific name of the genus to which belongs the <i>Marsupial Mole</i> (q.v.).
<hw>Nugget</hw>, <i>n</i>. a lump of gold. The noun nugget is not Australian, though often so supposed. Skeat (`Etymological Dictionary,' s.v.) gives a quotation from North's `Plutarch' with the word in a slightly different shape, viz., <i>niggot</i>. "The word nugget was in use in Australia many years before the goldfields were heard of. A thick-set young beast was called `a good nugget.' A bit of a fig of tobacco was called `a nugget of tobacco.'" (G. W. Rusden.)
1852. Sir W. T. Denison, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen s Land,' vol. ii. p. 203:
`In many instances it is brought to market in lumps, or `nuggets' as they are called, which contain, besides the gold alloyed with some metal, portions of quartz or other extraneous material, forming the matrix in which the gold was originally deposited, or with which it had become combined accidentally."
1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher' (reprint), p. 51:
"They lead a peaceful, happy, pastoral life—dig in a hole all day, and get drunk religiously at night. They are respected, admired, and esteemed. Suddenly they find a nugget, and lo! the whole tenor of their life changes."
<hw>Nugget</hw>, v. Queensland slang. See quotation.
1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. iii. p. 25:
"To nugget: in Australian slang, to appropriate your neighbours' unbranded calves."