ch. "I am going by Cobb." The word is still used, though
no Mr. Cobb has been connected with Australian coaches for many
years. See quotation.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 184:

"Mr. Cobb was an American, and has returned long ago to his
native country. He started a line of conveyances from
Melbourne to Castlemaine some time after the gold discoveries.
Mr. Cobb had spirit to buy good horses, to get first-class
American coaches, to employ good Yankee whips, and in a couple
of years or so he had been so extensively patronised that he
sold out, and retired with a moderate fortune." [But the
Coaching Company retained . . . the style of Cobb & Co.]

1879 (about). `Queensland Bush Song':

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway!
Hurrah for Cobb and Co.!
Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse
To carry me Westward Ho!"

<hw>Cobbler</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) The last sheep, an Australian
shearing term. (2) Another name for the fish called the
<i>Fortescue</i> (q.v.)

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), Dec. 23, p. 6, col. 1:

"Every one might not know what a `cobbler' is. It is the last
sheep in a catching pen, and consequently a bad one to shear,
as the easy ones are picked first. The cobbler must be taken
out before `Sheep-ho' will fill up again. In the harvest field
English rustics used to say, when picking up the last sheaf,
`This is what the cobbler threw at his wife.' `What?' `The
last,' with that lusty laugh, which, though it might betray `a
vacant mind,' comes from a very healthy organism."

<hw>Cobblers-Awl</hw>, <i>n</i>. bird-name. The word is a
provincial English name for the <i>Avocet</i>. In Tasmania,
the name is applied to a <i>Spine-Bill</i> (q.v.) from the
shape of its beak.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 61:

"<i>Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris</i>, Lath., Slender-billed
Spine-bill. <i>Cobbler's Awl</i>, Colonists of Van Diemen's
Land. <i>Spine-bill</i>, Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Cobbler's Pegs</hw>, name given to a tall erect annual
weed, <i>Erigeron linifolius</i>, Willd.,
<i>N.O. Compositae</i> and to <i>Bidens pilosus</i>, Linn.,
<i>N.O. Compositae</i>.

<hw>Cobbra</hw>, <i>n</i>. aboriginal word for head, skull.
[<i>Kabura</i> or <i>Kobbera</i>, with such variations as
Kobra, Kobbera, Kappara, Kopul, from Malay Kapala, head: one of
the words on the East Coast manifestly of Malay
origin.--J. Mathew. Much used in pigeon converse with
blacks.