s a
species of Merops or Bee-eater; a tribe which appears to be
peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia,
since more birds of this genus have been discovered than of any
other, except the very numerous one of Psittacus."

[The birds, however, have been since this date further
differentiated, and are now all classed in other genera, except
the present species.]

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 144:

"The wattled bee-eater, of which a plate is annexed, fell in
our way during the course of the day. . . . Under the eye,
on each side, is a kind of wattle of an orange colour. . .
This bird seems to be peculiar to New Holland."

Ibid. p. 190:

"We this day shot a knob-fronted bee-eater (see plate annexed).
This is about the size of a black-bird." [Description follows.]

<hw>Beef-wood</hw>, <i>n</i>. the timber of various Australian
trees, especially of the genus <i>Casuarina</i>, and some of
the Banksias; often used as a synonym of <i>She-oak</i> (q.v.).
The name is taken from the redness of the wood.

1826. J. Atkinson, `Agriculture and Grazing in New South Wales,'
p. 31:

"The wood is well known in England by the names of Botany Bay
wood, or beef wood.The grain is very peculiar, but the wood is
thought very little of in the colony; it makes good shingles,
splits, in the colonial phrase, from heart to bark . . ."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. i. c. i. p. 22:

"They seemed to be covered with cypresses and beef-wood."

1846. C. Holtzapffel, `Turning,' vol. i. p. 74:

"Beef wood. Red-coloured woods are sometimes thus named, but
it is generally applied to the Botany-Bay oak."

1852. G. C. Munday, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 219:

"A shingle of the beef-wood looks precisely like a raw
beef-steak."

1856. Capt. H. Butler Stoney, `A Residence in Tasmania,' p. 265:

"We now turn our attention to some trees of a very different
nature, <i>Casuarina stricta</i> and <i>quadrivalvis</i>,
commonly called He and She oak, and sometimes known by the name
of beef-wood, from the wood, which is very hard and takes a
high polish, exhibiting peculiar maculae spots and veins
scattered throughout a finely striated tint . . ."

1868. Paxton's `Botanical Dictionary,' p. 116:

"Casuarinaceae,or Beefwoods. Curious branching, leafless trees
or shrubs, with timber of a high order, which is both hard and
heavy, and of the colour of raw beef, whence the vulgar name."