The Hansom Cab

It's not their fault they don't have feathers! Doesn't make them any less interesting. And just like the birds, it's good to know what species are about locally at any given time.

There's expertise within the club and beyond on most aspects of our local fauna. Let's tap into it.
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Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

The Hansom Cab

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

There has been quite a bit of discussion over the time on this forum regarding the Mountain Katydid (Acripeza reticulata). I saw a female crossing Prince Henry Drive yesterday afternoon, which got me reading up on them again last night. One of the interesting bits of trivia I found was an old bushman's name for the species viz the Hansom Cab. This would obviously refer to the dumpy-bodied flightless female rather than the more conventionally katydid-shaped male. It's a lovely evocative and descriptive name (the Hansom Cab was a horse-drawn brougham-type carriage developed by Joseph Hansom of York in 1834).

I love these old colloquial names; ones such as Cobbler's Awl for the Eastern Spinebill and Barcoo Bantam for the Black-tailed Native Hen, Devil's Coachman for the preying mantis, the Doll's Eye for the Brown Tree Snake and Flash Jack for the Bridle Nail-tailed Wallaby. The list is endless. The world does seem a much less imaginative and colourful place in the 21st C.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
Last edited by Rod Hobson on Sat Jan 14, 2012 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

The Middle Ridge Turkey

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

Colloquail names can be as all-encompassing as the entire continent or as localised as a town or village. When I was a kid Toowoomba was just a country town. Plenty of periurban areas were market gardens, dairies or patches of bushland. One such was the suburb of Middle Ridge, which is now given over to sprawling surburbia. In the 1950-60's much of this then well-watered area was comprised largely of dairying farms and open fields. This used to attract large flocks of Straw-necked Ibis that were called, as a consequence, Middle Ridge Turkeys. This term was peculiar to this confined area of Toowoomba.

As well as this very restricted local name we also used Spadger for the House Sparrow, a British slang term that has spanned continents; Middle Ridge Turkey and Spadger, adoptions from one end of the geographic spectrum to the other. These old, colourful and imaginative names have now all but disappeared and often along with the animals that spawned them. There is now great concern for Passer domesticus in Britain. So sad.

And any Aussie worth his Weet Bix knows Doreen - the Rose of Spadgers Lane. Or do they?

Regards,
Rod Hobson
Last edited by Rod Hobson on Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
Pat McConnell
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:42 pm

The Hansom Cab

Post by Pat McConnell »

Hello everyone. While reading Rod's article I started to think about the names I used to call birds when I was young and growing up in Toowoomba. Here are some below that came quickly to mind.
Blue Crane - White-faced Heron
Blue Jay - Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Blue Mountain Parrot - Rainbow Lorikeet

On a different note - While gardening on the weekend Kath and I watched a Spangled Drongo hovering near our Orange Tree. We finally found out why it was doing this. It was hunting Bronze Orange Citrus Bugs (Musgraveia sulciventris). These are commonly called Stink Bugs and it is hard to imagine that they would tase very nice.[/i]
Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

Colloquial Names

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

Pat's reply above set me to mulling over the subject of colloquial names further and I've just composed a list of local names that I remember from my childhood; a list that is by no means comprehensive I should add. These are/were:

Swamp Pheasant (Pheasant Coucal)
Shag (cormorants generally)
Snake Bird (Australasian Darter)
Chicken Hawk (goshawks and Collared Sparrowhawk)
Quail Hawk (Spotted Harrier)
Duck Hawk (Peregrine Falcon)
Spur-wing Plover (Masked Lapwing)
Topknot (Crested Pigeon)
Green Leek (Scaly-breasted Lorikeet)
Crimson-wing (Red-winged Parrot)
Grass Parrot (Red-rumped Parrot)
Quarrion (Cockatiel)
Storm Bird (Channel-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Koel)
Fig Hawk (Channel-billed Cuckoo)
Mopoke (Tawny Frogmouth, Southern Boobook)
Jackass (Laughing Kookaburra)
Cranky Fan (Grey Fantail)
Scissors Grinder (Restless Flycatcher)
Bush Canary (White-throated Gerygone)
Micky Bird, Soldier Bird (Noisy Miner)
Banana Bird (Blue-faced Honeyeater)
Leather Head (Noisy Friarbird)
Butter Bum (Yellow-rumped Thornbill)
Chip Chip, Chook Chook (Striated Pardalote)
Red Snip, Snip (Red-browed Finch)
Shellie (Zebra Finch)
Bull Finch (Chestnut-breasted Mannikin)
Bush Magpie, Mud Magpie (White-winged Chough)
Lousy Jack, Happy Family (Apostlebird)
Summer Bird (woodswallows generally)
Chillawong, Tullawong (Pied Currawong)
Meadow Lark, Field Lark (Australasian Pipit)

also,

Bobby (Spangled Perch - Leiopotherapon unicolor)
Dewfish (Eel-tailed Catfish- Tandanus tandanus)
Dew Lizard (Bearded Dragon - Pogona barbata, often mistakenly called Frilled Lizard or Frillie as well)
Night Tiger, Doll's Eye (Brown Tree Snake - Boiga irregularis)
Yellow-bellied Black Snake (dark form of Common Tree Snake - Dendrelaphis punctulatus)
Downs Tiger (Spotted Black Snake - Pseudechis guttatus)
Barra Frog (rocket frogs generally - Litoria spp.)
Sand Toad (Ornate Burrowing Frog - Platyplectrum ornatum)
Black Jack, Stinker (Swamp Wallaby - Wallabia bicolor)
Pretty Face, Roanie (Red-necked Wallaby - Macropus rufogriseus)

There are plenty more, I'm sure but these are a few that come to mind. Pat's Blue Crane was a very commonly used name for the White-faced Heron when I was a kid. Reminds me of Hesba Fay Brinsmead's very popular childrens' book "Pastures of the Blue Crane" of that era. First published in 1964 it later became one of ABC Television's first mini series.

All interesting stuff ...

Regards,
Rod Hobson
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