'Porphyrio bellus' definitions:
Definition of 'Porphyrio bellus'
From: GCIDE
- Swamp \Swamp\, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. & Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.] Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore. [1913 Webster]
- Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
- A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses. --Farming Encyc. (E. Edwards, Words). [1913 Webster]
- Swamp blackbird. (Zool.) See Redwing (b) .
- Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage.
- Swamp deer (Zool.), an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India.
- Swamp hen. (Zool.) (a) An Australian azure-breasted bird (Porphyrio bellus); -- called also goollema. (b) An Australian water crake, or rail (Porzana Tabuensis); -- called also little swamp hen. (c) The European purple gallinule.
- Swamp honeysuckle (Bot.), an American shrub ({Azalea viscosa} syn. Rhododendron viscosa or {Rhododendron viscosum}) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called also swamp pink and white swamp honeysuckle.
- Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling logs. Cf. Cant hook.
- Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie.
- Swamp laurel (Bot.), a shrub (Kalmia glauca) having small leaves with the lower surface glaucous.
- Swamp maple (Bot.), red maple. See Maple.
- Swamp oak (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak (Quercus palustris), swamp white oak ({Quercus bicolor}), swamp post oak (Quercus lyrata).
- Swamp ore (Min.), bog ore; limonite.
- Swamp partridge (Zool.), any one of several Australian game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied to the European partridges.
- Swamp robin (Zool.), the chewink.
- Swamp sassafras (Bot.), a small North American tree of the genus Magnolia (Magnolia glauca) with aromatic leaves and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also {sweet bay}.
- Swamp sparrow (Zool.), a common North American sparrow (Melospiza Georgiana, or Melospiza palustris), closely resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy places.
- Swamp willow. (Bot.) See Pussy willow, under Pussy. [1913 Webster]