pheasant's mother

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

an old name of an Australian bird. See orthonyx.

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 180:

«That remarkable little bird, the `Pheasant's Mother' of thecolonists, or Spine-tailed Orthonyx ( Orthonyxspinicauda), about which also ornithologists have somedifference of opinion respecting its situation in the naturalsystem:'

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