Austral English Part 196

Perish, doing a, modern slang from Western Australia.

See quotation.

1894. `The Argus,' March 28, p. 5, col. 4:

"When a man (or party) has nearly died through want of water he is said to have `done a perish.'"

Perpetual Lease, though a misnomer, is a statutory expression in New Zealand. Under the former Land Acts, the grantee of a perpetual lease took a term of thirty years, with a right of renewal at a revalued rent, subject to conditions as to improvement and cultivation, with a right to purchase the freehold after six years' occupation.

Perriwinkle, n. See quotation. The most popular form in Melbourne is Turbo undulatus, Chemnitz.

T. constricta is also called the Native Whelk.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales,' p. 122:

"Trochocochlea constricta, Lam., is used as a subst.i.tute for the British perriwinkle, but it is only consumed to a very small extent."

Perth Herring, i.q. Sardine (q.v.), and see Herring.

Petaurist, n. the general name for a Flying-Phalanger (q.v.), Flying-Opossum (q.v.), Australian Flying-Squirrel (q.v.). (Grk.

petauristaes, a rope-dancer or tumbler).

See Petaurus.

Petauroides, n. a genus closely allied to Petaurus (q.v.), containing only one species, the Taguan Flying-Phalanger.

Petaurus, n. the scientific name given by Shaw in 1793 to the Australian genus of Petaurists (q.v.), or so-called Flying-Squirrels (q.v.), or Flying-Phalangers (q.v.), or Flying-Opossums.

The name was invented by zoologists out of Petaurist. In Greek, petauron was the perch or platform from which a "rope-dancer" stepped on to his rope. `L. & S.' say probably from pedauros, Aeolic for meteowros, high in air.

Pething-pole, n. a harpoon-like weapon used for pething (pithing) cattle; that is, killing them by piercing the spinal cord (pith, or provincial peth).

1886. P. Clarke, `New Chum in Australia,' p. 184 (`Century'):

"So up jumps Tom on the bar overhead with a long pething-pole, like an abnormally long and heavy alpenstock, in his hand; he selects the beast to be killed, stands over it in breathless .

. . silence, adjusts his point over the centre of the vertebra, and with one plunge sends the cruel point with unerring aim into the spinal cord."

Petrogale, n. the scientific name for a Rock-Wallaby (q.v.). The name was given by J. E. Gray, in the `Magazine of Natural History' (vol. i. p. 583), 1837.

(Grk. petra, rock, and galae, a weasel.)

Pezoporus, n. scientific name of a genus of Parrakeets peculiar to Australia, of which one species only is known, P. formosus, the Ground Parrakeet, or Swamp Parrakeet. From Grk. pezoporos, "going on foot."

It differs from all the other psittaci in having a long hind toe like that of a lark, and is purely terrestrial in its habits.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. i. pl. 46:

"Pezoporus Formosus, Ill., Ground-parrakeet; Swamp-parrakeet, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land; Ground-parrakeet, New South Wales and Western Australia."

Phalanger, n. the scientific name for the animal called an Opossum (q.v.) in Australia, and including also the Flying-squirrel (q.v.), and other Marsupials. See also Flying-Phalanger. The word is sometimes used instead of Opossum, where precise accuracy is desired, but its popular use in Australia is rare.

The Phalangers are chiefly Australian, but range as far as the Celebes. The word is from the Greek phalanx, one meaning of which is the bone between the joints of the fingers or toes. (The toes are more or less highly webbed in the Phalanger.)

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' p. 249:

"The cry of the night-bird, the rustle of the phalangers and the smaller marsupials, as they glided through the wiry frozen gra.s.s or climbed the clear stems of the eucalypti."

1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':

"A pair of the Short-headed Phalanger (Belideus breviceps) occupy the next division."

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 75:

"The second great family of the herbivorous Diprotodont Marsupials is typically represented by the creatures properly known as phalangers, which the colonists of Australia persist in misnaming opossums. It includes however several other forms, such as the Flying-Phalangers [q.v.] and the Koala [q.v.]."

Phascolarctus, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Koala (q.v.) or Native Bear, of which there is only one species, P. cinereus. It is, of course, marsupial.(Grk. phaskowlos, a leather ap.r.o.n, and 'arktos, a bear.) See Bear.

Phascologale, n. contracted often to Phascogale: the scientific name for the genus of little marsupials known as the Kangaroo-Mouse or Pouched-Mouse (q.v.). (Grk. phaskowlos, a leather ap.r.o.n, and galae, a weasel.) "The pretty little animals belonging to the genus thus designated, range over the whole of Australia and New Guinea, together with the adjacent islands and are completely arboreal and insectivorous in their habits.

The [popular] name of Pouched-Mouse is far from being free from objection, yet, since the scientific names of neither this genus nor the genus Sminthopsis lend themselves readily for conversion into English, we are compelled to use the colonial designation as the vernacular names of both genera... . The largest of the thirteen known species does not exceed a Common Rat in size, while the majority are considerably smaller." (R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 166.)

1853. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 324:

"The phascogales are small insectivorous animals found on the mountains and in the dense forest-parts of the island, and little is known of their habits."

Phascolome, and Phascolomys, n. The first is the anglicised form of the second, which is the scientific name of the genus called by the aboriginal name of Wombat (q.v.) (Grk. phaskowlos = leathern bag, and mus = mouse.)

Phasmid, n. the name for the insects of the genus Phasma (Grk. phasma = an appearance), of the family Phasmidae, curious insects not confined to Australia, but very common there. The various species are known as Leaf-insects, Walking leaves, Stick-caterpillars, Walking-sticks, Spectres, etc., from the extraordinary illusion with which they counterfeit the appearance of the twigs, branches, or leaves of the vegetation on which they settle. Some have legs only, which they can hold crooked in the air to imitate twigs; others have wings like delicate leaves, or they are brilliant green and covered with thorns. They imitate not only the colour and form of the plant, but its action or motion when swayed slightly by the wind.

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 209:

"A span-long Phasmid then he knew, Stretching its fore-limbs like a branching twig."

Pheasant, n. This common English bird-name is applied in Australia to two birds, viz.--

(1) The Lyre-bird (q.v.).

(2) The Lowan (q.v.), and see Turkey.

For Pheasant-fantail, see Fantail.

1877 (before). Australie, `From the Clyde to Braidwood,'

quoted in `Australian Ballads and Rhymes' (edition Sladen, p. 10):

"... Echoing notes Of lyre-tailed pheasants, in their own rich notes, Mocking the song of every forest-bird."

1885. Wanderer, `Beauteous Terrorist, etc., p. 60:

"And have we no visions pleasant Of the playful lyre-tail'd pheasant?"

Pheasant-Cuckoo, n. another name for the Coucal (q.v.), Centropus phasianellus, Gould.

See also Swamp-Pheasant.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i.

c. vi. p. 125:

"I shot over the island and enjoyed some very fair sport, especially with the pheasant-cuckoo."