Austral English Part 215

"The razor-grinder, fitly so called from making a grinding noise as it wavers in one position a foot or two from the ground."

Ready up, v. See quotation.

1893. `The Age,' Nov. 25, p. 13, col. 2:

"Mr. Purees: A statement has been made that is very serious. It has been said that a great deal has been `readied up' for the jury by the present commissioners. That is a charge which, if true, amounts to embracery.

"His Honor: I do not know what `readying up' means.

"Mr. Purves: It is a colonial expression, meaning that something is prepared with an object. If you `ready up' a racehorse, you are preparing to lose, or if you `ready up'

a pack of cards, you prepare it for dealing certain suits."

Red Bass, n. a fish of Moreton Bay (q.v.), Mesoprion superbus, Castln., family Percidae.

Redberry, n. name given to Australian plants of the genus Rhagodia, bearing spikes or panicles of red berries. Called also Seaberry.

See also Saloop-bush.

Red-bill, n. bird-name given to Estrelda temporalis, Lath. It is also applied to the Oyster-catchers (q.v.); and sometimes to the Swamp-Hen (q.v.).

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' p. 345:

"Lieut. Flinders taking up his gun to fire at two red-bills ... the natives, alarmed, ran to the woods."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 259:

"`This bird,' says Mr. Caley, `which the settlers call Red-bill, is gregarious, and appears at times in very large flocks. I have killed above forty at a shot.'"

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 82:

"Estrelda temporalis. Red-eyebrowed Finch.

Red-Bill of the Colonists."

`Red Bream, n. name given to the Schnapper when one year old. See Schnapper.

Red Cedar, n. See Cedar.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 434:

"M'Leay river, New South Wales, Lat. 30 degrees 40'. This forest was found to contain large quantities of red cedar (Cedrela toona) and white cedar (Melia azederach), which, though very different from what is known as cedar at home, is a valuable wood, and in much request by the colonists."

Red Currant, n. another name for the Native Currant of Tasmania, Coprosma nitida, Hook., N.O. Rubiaceae. See Currant, Native.

Red Gum, n. (1) A tree. See Gum. The two words are frequently made one with the accent on the first syllable; compare Blue-gum.

(2) A medicinal drug. An exudation from the bark of Eucalyptus rostrata, Schlecht, and other trees; see quotation, 1793. Sir Ranald Martin introduced it into European medical practice.

177 J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 178:

"At the heart they [the trees] are full of veins, through which an amazing quantity of an astringent red gum issues. This gum I have found very serviceable in an obstinate dysentery."

Ibid. p. 233:

"A very powerfully astringent gum-resin, of a red colour, much resembling that known in the shops as Kino, and, for all medical purposes, fully as efficacious."

1793. J. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,'

p. 10:

"This, Mr. White informs us, is one of the trees (for there are several, it seems, besides the Eucalyptus resinifera, mentioned in his Voyage, p. 231) which produce the red gum."

[The tree is Ceratopetalum gummiferum, Smith, called by him Three-leaved Red-gum Tree. It is now called Officer Plant or Christmas-bush (q.v.).]

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 42:

"The usual red gum was observed oozing out from the bark, and this attracted their notice, as it did that of every explorer who had landed upon the continent. This gum is a species of kino, and possesses powerful astringent, and probably staining, qualities."

Red Gurnet-Perch, n. name given in Victoria to the fish Sebastes percoides, Richards., family Scorpaenidae. It is also called Poddly; Red Gurnard, or Gurnet; and in New Zealand, Pohuikaroa. See Perch and Gurnet.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'

p. 48:

"Sebastes percoides, a fish of a closely allied genus of the same family [as Scorpaena cruenta, the red rock-cod]. It is caught at times in Port Jackson, but has no local name. In Victoria it is called the Red Gurnet-perch."

Redhead, n. See Firetail.

Red-knee, n. sometimes called the Red-kneed Dottrel, Charadrius ruftveniris, formerly Erythrogonys cinctus, Gould. A species of a genus of Australian plovers.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. vi. pl. 21:

"Erythrogonys Cinctus, Gould; Banded Red-knee."

Red Mulga, n. name given to a species of Acacia, A. cyperophylla, F. v. M., owing to the red colour of the flakes of bark which peel off the stem. See Mulga.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Home Expedition in Central Australia,'

Narrative, pt. i. p. 16:

"We crossed a narrow belt of country characterized by the growth along the creek sides of red mulga. This is an Acacia (A. cyperophylla) reaching perhaps a height of twenty feet, the bark of which, alone amongst Acacias, is deciduous and peels off, forming little deep-red coloured flakes."

Red Mullet, n. New South Wales, Upeneoides vlamingii, Cuv. and Val., and Upeneus porosus, Cuv. and Val., family Mullidae. See Mullet.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,'

p. 38:

"The name of this family is a source of much confusion. It is derived from the Latin word mullus, which in the form of `Mullet' we apply to the well-known fishes of quite a different family, the Mugilidae. Another fish to which the term `Red-Mullet' is applied is of the family Cottidae or Gurnards."

Red Perch, n. name given in Tasmania to the fish Anthias rasor, Richards.; also called the Barber.

In Australia, it is Anthias longimanus, Gunth.

Red Rock-Cod, n. name given in New South Wales to the fish Scorpaena cardinalis, Richards., family Scorpaenidae, marine fishes resembling the Sea-perches.

S. cardinalis is of a beautiful scarlet colour.