Austral English Part 85

"[The habits and habitats of the genus as] applied to Gerygone suggested the term Fly-eater, as distinguished from Fly-catcher, for this aberrant and peculiarly Australasian form of small Fly-catchers, which not only capture their food somewhat after the manner of Fly-catchers, but also seek for it arboreally."

Flyer, n. a swift kangaroo.

1866. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' second series, p. 172:

"I may here state that the settlers designate the old kangaroos as `old men' and `old women,' the full-grown animals are named `flyers,' and are swifter than the British hare."

Flying-Fox, n. a gigantic Australian bat, Pteropus poliocephalus, Temm. It has a fetid odour and does great damage to fruits, and is especially abundant in New South Wales, though often met with in Victoria. Described, not named, in first extract.

1793. Governor Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 507:

"The head of this bat strongly resembles that of a fox, and the wings of many of them extend three feet ten inches... .

[Description of one domesticated.] ... They are very fat, and are reckoned by the natives excellent food... . It was supposed more than twenty thousand of them were seen within the s.p.a.ce of one mile."

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

p. 315:

"One flying fox is an immense bat, of such a horrific appearance, that no wonder one of Cook's honest tars should take it for the devil when encountering it in the woods."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 310:

"... a flying fox, which one of them held in his hand. It was, in fact, a large kind of bat, with the nose resembling in colour and shape that of a fox, and in scent it was exactly similar to it. The wing was that of a common English bat, and as long as that of a crow, to which it was about equal in the length and circ.u.mference of its body."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 97:

"Some of the aborigines feed on a large bat popularly called `the flying fox.' . . We found the filthy creatures, hanging by the heels in thousands, from the higher branches of the trees."

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,' p. 102:

"The shrill twitter of the flying fox, or vampire bat, in the bush around us."

1871. Gerard Krefft, `Mammals of Australia':

"The food on which the `Foxes' princ.i.p.ally live when garden fruit is not in season, consists of honey-bearing blossoms and the small native figs abounding in the coast-range scrubs... .

These bats are found on the east coast only, but during very dry seasons they occur as far west as the neighbourhood of Melbourne."

1881. A.C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 20:

"A little further on they came to a camp of flying foxes.

The huge trees on both sides of the river are actually black with them. The great bats hang by their hooked wings to every available branch and twig, squealing and quarrelling.

The smell is dreadful. The camp extends for a length of three miles. There must be millions upon millions of them."

Flying-Mouse, n. See Opossum-mouse and Flying-Phalanger.

Flying-Phalanger, n. included in the cla.s.s of Phalanger (q.v.). The "flying" Phalangers "have developed large parachute-like expansions of skin from the sides of the body, by means of which they are able to take long flying leaps from bough to bough, and thus from tree to tree.

While the great majority of the members of the family are purely vegetable feeders, ... a few feed entirely or partly on insects, while others have taken to a diet of flesh."

(R. Lydekker.)

They include the so-called Flying-Squirrel, Flying-Mouse, etc. There are three genera--

Acrobates (q.v.), called the Flying-Mouse, and Opossum-Mouse (q.v.).

Petauroides commonly called the Taguan, or Taguan Flying-Squirrel.

Petaurus (q.v.), commonly called the Flying Squirrel.

The species are--

Lesser F.-Ph.-- Petaurus breviceps.

Papuan Pigmy F.-Ph.-- Acrobates pulch.e.l.lus (confined to Northern Dutch New Guinea).

Pigmy F.-Ph.-- A. pygmaeuss.

Squirrel F.-Ph.-- Petaurus sciureus.

Taguan F.-Ph.-- Petauroides volans.

Yellow-bellied F.-Ph.-- P. australis.

Flying-Squirrel, n. popular name for a Flying-Phalanger, Petaurus sciureus, Shaw, a marsupial with a parachute-like fold of skin along the sides by which he skims and floats through the air. The name is applied to entirely different animals in Europe and America.

1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage to Botany Bay,' c. xv. p. 151:

"Norfolk Island flying squirrel." [With picture.]

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

"The flying squirrels are of a beautiful slate colour, with a fur so fine that, although a small animal, the hatters here give a quarter dollar for every skin."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 37:

"The squeal and chirp of the flying squirrel."

1850. R. C. Gunn, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 253:

"In the year 1845 I drew the attention of the Tasmanian Society to the interesting fact that the Petaurus sciureus, or Flying Squirrel, of Port Phillip, was becoming naturalized in Van Diemen's Land... . No species of Petaurus is indigenous to Tasmania... . It does not appear from all that I can learn, that any living specimens of the Petaurus schireus were imported into Van Diemen's Land prior to 1834; but immediately after the settlement of Port Phillip, in that year, considerable numbers of the flying squirrel were, from their beauty, brought over as pets by the early visitors."

1851. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 78:

"The flying squirrel, another of the opossum species of the marsupial order, is a beautiful little creature, and disposed over the whole of the interior of New South Wales: its fur is of a finer texture than that of the opossum."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 70:

"The common flying squirrel (Petaurus sciureus) is very plentiful in the large gum trees near the banks of a creek or river, and appears to entertain a peculiar aversion to the high lands."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 90:

"Flying squirrel."