glucking-bird

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

n.


a bird so named byLeichhardt, but not identified. Probably the Boobook (q.v.), and see its quotation 1827; see also under Mopoke quotation, Owl, 1846.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 23:

«The musical note of an unknown bird, sounding like `gluckgluck' frequently repeated, and ending in a shake . . . areheard from the neighbourhood of the scrub.»

Ibid. p. 29:

«The glucking bird – – by which name, in consequence of its note,the bird may be distinguished – – was heard through the night.»

Ibid. p. 47:

«The glucking-bird and the barking owl were heard throughoutthe moonlight nights.»

Ibid. pp. 398, 399:

«During the night, we heard the well-known note of what wecalled the `Glucking bird,' when we first met with it in theCypress-pine country at the early part of our expedition. Itsre-appearance with the Cypress-pine corroborated my supposition,that the bird lived on the seeds of that tree.»

Related Words