FLORICAN, FLORIKIN, s. A name applied in India to two species of small bustard, the 'Bengal Florican' (Sypheotides bengalensis, Gmelin), and the Lesser Florican (S. auritus, Latham), the līkh of Hind., a word which is not in the dictionaries. [In the N.W.P. the common name for the Bengal Florican is charas, P. charz. The name Curmoor in Bombay (see quotation from Forbes below) seems to be khar-mor, the 'grass peacock.' Another Mahr. name, tanamora, has the same meaning.] The origin of the word Florican is exceedingly obscure; see Jerdon below. It looks like Dutch. [The N.E.D. suggests a connection with Flanderkin, a native of Flanders.] Littré has: "Florican ... Nom à Ceylon d'un grand échassier que l'on présume être un grue." This is probably mere misapprehension in his authority.
1785.—
"A floriken at eve we saw
And kill'd in yonder glen,
When lo! it came to table raw,
And rouzed (sic) the rage of Ben."
In Seton-Karr, i. 98.
1807.—"The floriken is a species of the bustard.... The cock is a noble bird, but its flight is very heavy and awkward ... if only a wing be broken ... he will run off at such a rate as will baffle most spaniels.... There are several kinds of the floriken ... the bastard floriken is much smaller.... Both kinds ... delight in grassy plains, keeping clear of heavy cover."—Williamson, Oriental Field Sports, 104.
1813.—"The florican or curmoor (Otis houbara, Lin.) exceeds all the Indian wild fowl in delicacy of flavour."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 275; [2nd ed. i. 501].
1824.—"... bringing with him a brace of florikens, which he had shot the previous day. I had never seen the bird before; it is somewhat larger than a blackcock, with brown and black plumage, and evidently of the bustard species."—Heber, i. 258.
1862.—"I have not been able to trace the origin of the Anglo-Indian word 'Florikin,' but was once informed that the Little Bustard in Europe was sometimes called Flanderkin. Latham gives the word 'Flercher' as an English name, and this, apparently, has the same origin as Florikin."—Jerdon's Birds, 2nd ed. ii. 625. (We doubt if Jerdon has here understood Latham correctly. What Latham writes is, in describing the Passarage Bustard, which, he says, is the size of the Little Bustard: "Inhabits India. Called Passarage Plover.... I find that it is known in India by the name of Oorail; by some of the English called Flercher." (Suppt. to Gen. Synopsis of Birds, 1787, 229.) Here we understand "the English" to be the English in India, and Flercher to be a clerical error for some form of "floriken." [Flercher is not in N.E.D.]
1875.—"In the rains it is always matter of emulation at Rajkot, who shall shoot the first purple-crested florican."—Wyllie's Essays, 358.
FLOWERED-SILVER. A term applied by Europeans in Burma to the standard quality of silver used in the ingot currency of Independent Burma, called by the Burmese yowet-nī or 'Red-leaf.' The English term is taken from the appearance of stars and radiating lines, which forms on the surface of this particular alloy, as it cools in the crucible. The Ava standard is, or was, of about 15 per cent. alloy, the latter containing, besides copper, a small proportion of lead, which is necessary, according to the Burmese, for the production of the flowers or stars (see Yule, Mission to Ava, 259 seq.).
FLY, s. The sloping, or roof part of the canvas of a tent is so called in India; but we have not traced the origin of the word; nor have we found it in any English dictionary. [The N.E.D. gives the primary idea as "something attached by the edge," as a strip on a garment to cover the button-holes.] A tent such as officers generally use has two flies, for better protection from sun and rain. The vertical canvas walls are called Kanāt (see CANAUT). [Another sense of the word is "a quick-travelling carriage" (see quotation in Forbes below).]
