Austral English Part 51

`From its abundance in the neighbourhood of Menindie, it is often called Menindie-clover.' It is the `Australian shamrock'

of Mitch.e.l.l. This perennial, fragrant, clover-like plant is a good pasture herb."

Clover-Tree, n. a Tasmanian tree, called also Native Laburnun. See under Laburnum.

Coach, n. a bullock used as a decoy to catch wild cattle. This seems to be from the use of coach as the University term for a private tutor.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:

"To get them [sc. wild cattle] a party of stockmen take a small herd of quiet cattle, `coaches.'"

Coach, v. to decoy wild cattle or horses with tame ones.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 121:

"Here he [the wild horse] may be got by `coaching' like wild cattle."

Coach-whip Bird, n. Psophodes crepitans, V. and H. (see Gould's `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 15); Black-throated C.B., P. nigrogularis, Gould. Called also Whipbird and Coachman.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,'

vol. xv. p. 330:

"This bird is more often heard than seen. It inhabits bushes.

The loud cracking whip-like noise it makes (from whence the colonists give it the name of coachwhip), may be heard from a great distance."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii.

p. 158:

"If you should hear a coachwhip crack behind, you may instinctively start aside to let the mail pa.s.s; but quickly find it is only our native coachman with his spread-out fantail and perked-up crest, whistling and cracking out his whip-like notes as he hops sprucely from branch to branch."

1844. Mrs. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,'

p. 137:

"Another equally singular voice among our feathered friends was that of the `coachman,' than which no t.i.tle could be more appropriate, his chief note being a long clear whistle, with a smart crack of the whip to finish with."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 177:

"The bell-bird, by the river heard; The whip-bird, which surprised I hear, In me have powerful memories stirred Of other scenes and strains more dear; Of sweeter songs than these afford, The thrush and blackbird warbling clear."

--Old Impressions.

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 71:

"The coach-whip is a small bird about the size of a sparrow, found near rivers. It derives its name from its note, a slow, clear whistle, concluded by a sharp jerking noise like the crack of a whip."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 76:

"The whip-bird, whose sharp wiry notes, even, are far more agreeable than the barking of dogs and the swearing of diggers."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 24:

"That is the coach-whip bird. There again.

Whew-ew-ew-ew-whit. How sharply the last note sounds."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. vi. p. 54:

"The sharp st--wt of the whip-bird ... echoed through the gorge."

1888. James Thomas, `May o' the South,' `Australian Poets 1788-1888' (ed. Sladen), p. 552:

"Merrily the wagtail now Chatters on the ti-tree bough, While the crested coachman bird `Midst the underwood is heard."

Coast, v. to loaf about from station to station.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' xxv. 295:

"I ain't like you, Towney, able to coast about without a job of work from shearin' to shearin'."

Coaster, n. a loafer, a Sundowner (q.v.).

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' viii. 75:

"A voluble, good-for-nothing, loafing impostor, a regular `coaster.'"

Cobb, n. sometimes used as equivalent to a coach. "I am going by Cobb." The word is still used, though no Mr. Cobb has been connected with Australian coaches for many years. See quotation.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 184:

"Mr. Cobb was an American, and has returned long ago to his native country. He started a line of conveyances from Melbourne to Castlemaine some time after the gold discoveries.

Mr. Cobb had spirit to buy good horses, to get first-cla.s.s American coaches, to employ good Yankee whips, and in a couple of years or so he had been so extensively patronised that he sold out, and retired with a moderate fortune." [But the Coaching Company retained ... the style of Cobb & Co.]

1879 (about). `Queensland Bush Song':

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway!

Hurrah for Cobb and Co.!

Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse To carry me Westward Ho!"

Cobbler, n. (1) The last sheep, an Australian shearing term. (2) Another name for the fish called the Fortescue (q.v.)

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), Dec. 23, p. 6, col. 1:

"Every one might not know what a `cobbler' is. It is the last sheep in a catching pen, and consequently a bad one to shear, as the easy ones are picked first. The cobbler must be taken out before `Sheep-ho' will fill up again. In the harvest field English rustics used to say, when picking up the last sheaf, `This is what the cobbler threw at his wife.' `What?' `The last,' with that l.u.s.ty laugh, which, though it might betray `a vacant mind,' comes from a very healthy organism."

Cobblers-Awl, n. bird-name. The word is a provincial English name for the Avocet. In Tasmania, the name is applied to a Spine-Bill (q.v.) from the shape of its beak.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 61:

"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Lath., Slender-billed Spine-bill. Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land. Spine-bill, Colonists of New South Wales."

Cobbler's Pegs, name given to a tall erect annual weed, Erigeron linifolius, Willd., N.O. Compositae and to Bidens pilosus, Linn., N.O. Compositae.