coach-whip bird

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

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 thecolonists give it the name of coachwhip), may be heard from agreat distance.»

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii.p. 158:

«If you should hear a coachwhip crack behind, you mayinstinctively start aside to let the mail pass; butquickly find it is only our native coachman with his spread-outfantail and perked-up crest, whistling and cracking out hiswhip-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 wasthat of the `coachman,' than which no title could be moreappropriate, his chief note being a long clear whistle, with asmart 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 thecrack of a whip.»

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

«The whip-bird, whose sharp wiry notes, even, are far moreagreeable than the barking of dogs and the swearing ofdiggers.»

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 thegorge.»

1888. James Thomas, `May o' the South,' `Australian Poets1788-1888' (ed. Sladen), p. 552:

«Merrily the wagtail now

Chatters on the ti-tree bough,

While the crested coachman bird

`Midst the underwood is heard.»

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

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