little swamp hen

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

“little swamp hen” is listed under Swamp.

Origin: Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. svöppr, Dan. & Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. σομφός porous, spongy.

Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore.

Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.— Alfred Tennyson

A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses.— Farming Encyclopedia

Swamp blackbird. Zoology See Redwing (b). — Swamp cabbage Botany, skunk cabbage. — Swamp deer Zoology, an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India. — Swamp hen. Zoology (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 Botany, 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. Medicine See Prairie itch, under Prairie. — Swamp laurel Botany, a shrub (Kalmia glauca) having small leaves with the lower surface glaucous. — Swamp maple Botany, red maple. See Maple. — Swamp oak Botany, 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 Mineralogy, bog ore; limonite. — Swamp partridge Zoology, any one of several Australian game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied to the European partridges. — Swamp robin Zoology, the chewink. — Swamp sassafras Botany, 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 Zoology, a common North American sparrow (Melospiza Georgiana, or Melospiza palustris), closely resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy places. — Swamp willow. Botany See Pussy willow, under Pussy.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54