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Fairy Gardens . n. a miner's term, explained in quotation.
1852. F. Lancelott, 'Australia, as it is', vol. ii. p. 221:
'On the south-eastern portion of this county is the world-famed Burra Burra copper mine. . . . Some of the cuttings are through solid blocks of ore, which brilliantly glitter as you pass with a lighted candle, while others are formed in veins of malachite, and from their rich variegated green appearance are not inaptly called by the miners 'Fairy gardens.''
Fake-mucker . n. a Tasmanian name for the Dusky Robin (Petroica vittata). See Robin.
Falcon . n. English bird-name. The Australian species are--
Black Falcon-- Falco subniger, Gray.
Black-cheeked F.-- F. melanogenys, Gould.
Grey F.-- F. hypoleucus, Gould.
Little F.-- F. lunulatus, Latham.
See also Nankeen-Hawk.
Fantail . n. bird-name applied in England to a pigeon; in Australia and New Zealand, to the little birds of the genus Rhipidura (q.v.). It is a fly-catcher. The Australian species are--
Rhipidura albiscapa, Gould.
Black-and-White Fantail (called also the Wagtail, q.v.)-- R. tricolor, Vieillot.
Dusky F.-- R. diemenensis, Sharpe.
Northern F.-- R. setosa, Quoy and Gaimard.
Pheasant F.-- Rhipidura phasiana, De Vis.
Rufous F.-- R. rufifrons, Latham.
Western F.-- R. preissi, Cabanis.
White-tailed F.-- R. albicauda, North.
Wood F.-- R. dryas, Gould.
The New Zealand species are--
Black F.-- Rhipidura fuliginosa, Sparrman. (Tiwaiwaka).
Pied F.-- R. flabellifera, Gmelin. (Piwakawaka).
In Tasmania, the R. diemenensis is called the Cranky Fantail, because of its antics.
1847. L. Leichhardt, 'Journal,' vol. ii. p. 80:
'We also observed the . . . fantailed fly-catcher (Rhipidura).'
1888. W. L. Buller, 'Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 69:
'The Red Fantail, ever flitting about with broadly expanded tail, and performing all manner of fantastic evolutions, in its diligent pursuit of gnats and flies, is one of the most pleasing and attractive objects in the New Zealand forest. It is very tame and familiar.'
Farinaceous City . or Village, n. a playful name for Adelaide. The allusion is to wheat being the leading export of South Australia.
1873. A. Trollope, 'Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 184:
'[Adelaide] has also been nicknamed the Farinaceous City. A little gentle ridicule is no doubt intended to be conveyed by the word.'
Fat-cake . n. ridiculous name sometimes applied to Eucalyptus leucoxylon, Ferdinand von Mueller, according to Maiden ('Useful Native Plants,' p. 471).
Fat-hen . n. a kind of wild spinach. In England the name is applied to various plants of thick foliage.
1847. L. Leichhardt, 'Overland Expedition,' p. 40:
'The fat-hen (Atriplex) . . .'
1872. C. H. Eden, 'My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 120:
'Another wild vegetable brew in the sandy beds of the rivers and creeks, called 'fat-hen.' It was exactly like spinach, and not only most agreeable but also an excellent anti-scorbutic, a useful property, for scurvy is not an unknown thing in the bush by any means.'
1881. A.C. Grant, 'Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 156:
'Boiled salt junk, with fat-hen (a kind of indigenous spinach).'
1889. J. M. Maiden, 'Useful Native Plants,' p. 16:
'Chenopodium murale, Linnaeus., Australian spinach. Bentham considers this may have been introduced.'
Felonry . n. See quotation.
1837. Jas. Mudie, 'Felonry of New South Wales,' p. 6:
'The author has ventured to coin the word felonry, as the appellative of an order or class of persons in New South Wales--an order which happily exists in no other country in the world. A legitimate member of the tribe of appellatives . . . as peasantry, tenantry, yeomanry, gentry.'
1858. T. McCombie, 'History of Victoria,' c. xv. p. 24:
'The inundation of the Australian colonies with British Felonry.'
1888. Sir C. Gavan Duffy, 'Contemporary Review,' vol. liii. p.14 ['Century']:
'To shut out the felonry of Great Britain and Ireland.'
Fern-bird . n. a New Zealand bird of the genus Sphenoecus. Also called Grass-bird, and New Zealand Pipit. There are three species--
The Fern-bird-- Sphenoecus punctatus, Gray.
Chatham Island F.-b.-- S. rufescens, Buller.
Fulvous F.-b.-- S. fulvus, Gray.
1885. 'Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. p. 125:
'The peculiar chirp of the fern bird is yet to be heard among the tall fern.'
1885. A. Hamilton, 'Native Birds of Petane, Hawke's Bay':
'Fern-bird. The peculiar chirp of this lively little bird is yet to be heard among the tall fern, though it is not so plentiful as in days gone by.'
1888. W. L. Buller, 'Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 59:
'Fern Bird . . . This recluse little species is one of our commonest birds, but is oftener heard than seen. It frequents the dense fern of the open country and the beds of Raupo.'
Fern-tree . n. Name applied to various species of ferns which grow to a large size, the stem in the fully grown plant reaching often a height of many feet before the leaves are given off. Such Tree-ferns clothe the sides of deep and shady gullies amongst the hills, and give rise to what are known as Fern-tree gullies, which form a very characteristic feature of the moister coastal Ranges of many parts of Australia. The principal Fern-trees or Tree-ferns, as they are indiscriminately called, of Australia and Tasmania are--
Dicksonia antarctica, Labillardiere.; Alsophila australis, Robert Brown; Todea africana, Willd.; Cyathea cunninghami, J. J. Hooker.; Alsophila excelsa, Robert Brown;
the last named, however, not occurring in Tasmania or Victoria.
1836. Ross, 'Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 164:
'We entered a beautiful fern-tree grove, that also concealed the heavens from view, spreading like a plantation or cocoa-nut tree orchard, but with far more elegance and effect.'
1839. C. Darwin, 'Voyage of Beagle' (ed. 1890), p. 177:
'Tree-ferns thrive luxuriantly in Van Diemen's Land (lat. 45 degrees), and I measured one trunk no less than six feet in circumference. An arborescent fern was found by Forster in New Zealand in 46 degrees, where orchideous plants are parasitical on the trees. In the Auckland Islands, ferns, according to Dr. Dieffenbach, have trunks so thick and high that they may be almost called tree-ferns.'
1857. F. R. Nixon (Bishop of Tasmania), 'Cruise of the Beacon,' p. 26:
'With these they [i.e. the Tasmanian Aborigines] mingled the core or pith of the fern trees, Cibotium Bollardieri and Alsophila Australis (of which the former is rather astringent and dry for a European palate, and the latter, though more tolerable, is yet scarcely equal to a Swedish turnip.)'
1870. S. H. Wintle, 'Fragments of Fern Fronds,' p. 39:
'Where the feet of the mountains are bathed by cool fountains, The green, drooping fern trees are seen.'
1878. William Sharp, 'Australian Ballads,' 'Canterbury Poets' (Scott, 1888), pp. 180-81:
'The feathery fern-trees make a screen, Where through the sun-glare cannot pass-- Fern, gum, and lofty sassafras.'
'Under a feathery fern-tree bough A huge iguana lies alow.'
1884. R. L. A. Davies, 'Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 83:
'There were mossy fern-trees near me, With their graceful feathered fronds, Which they slowly waved above me, Like hoar magicians' wands.'
1893. A.R. Wallace, 'Australasia,' vol. i. p. 53:
'Here are graceful palms rising to 70 or even 100 feet; the Indian fig with its tortuous branches clothed with a drapery of curious parasites; while graceful tree ferns, 30 feet high, flourish in the damp atmosphere of the sheltered dells.'
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