rock-manikin 
rock-manikin (rok'mau"i-kiu), . A manikin 
of the genus Supieola ; a rock-bird or cock of 
the rock. See cut under Kupicola. 
rock-maple (rok'ma"pl), . See maple*. 
rock-meal (rok'mel), n. In mineral., a white, 
cotton-like variety of calcite occurring as an 
efflorescence, as at the quarries of Nanterre, 
near Paris. 
rock-milk (rok'milk), 11. [Tr. G. lergmilch.'] A 
name given to a cryptocrystalline mixture of 
aragonite, with calcite in a condition resem- 
bling chalk, and some organic matter. 
rock-moss (rok'mos), . The lichen Lecanora 
tartarea, which yields archil; perhaps also one 
of some other lichens. It Is much used in the High- 
lands of Scotland as a dyestufl, and is so called from 
abounding on rocks in alpine districts. See cut under 
cudbear. 
rock-mouse (rok'mous), . A South African 
rodent, Petromys typicus. See cut under Petro- 
mys. 
rock-nosing (rok'no'zing), n. See the quota- 
tion. 
Whilst the good ship lies secure in these unsurveyed and 
unauthorized harbors (each master mariner according to 
his predilection), the boats go outside to watch for whales. 
If they succeed in capturing one, frequently, if possible, 
the vessel goes out and assists in securing it. Though they 
are supposed to return to the ship every night, yet at this 
time the men are often subjected to great hardship and 
danger. This is known as the "autumn " or "fall fishing," 
and this method of pursuing it as rock-nosing. 
Fitheries of U. S., V. ii. 203. 
rock-oil (rok'oil), n. Petroleum. 
rock-ouzel (rok'o'zl), n. The ring-ouzel. See 
cut under ouzel. Also called rock-blackbird. 
[Local, Eng.] 
rock-oyster (rok'ois'ter), n. 1. An oyster 
growing upon a rock, as distinguished from 
oysters found in beds. [Delaware.] 2. An 
oyster-likebivalve, Placunanomia macroschisma, 
inhabiting the Pacific coast of North America 
from Alaska to California. 
rock-parrakeet (rok'para-ket), n. One of the 
Australian grass-parrakeets, Euphema petro- 
phila, so called from nesting in rocks. 
rock-pigeon (rok'pij'on), n. 1. The common 
pigeon, rock-dove, or rock, Columba Hvia, the 
wild original of the domestic pigeon or dove. 
See cut under rock-dore. 2. The sand-pigeon 
or sand-grouse. See Pteroclidse. 
rock-pipit (rok'pip'it), n. The British titlark, 
water-pipit, or sea-lark, whose two most fre- 
quent technical names tneAntlius aquaticus and 
A. obseurtis. It has several others, as A. petrosus, A 
rupestris, A. campestris (of Bewick), A. littaralu (Brehm), 
and A. immtitabilis (Degland). This bird is the titlark of 
Pennant (1766), and its earliest recognized scientific des- 
ignation is Alauda obscura of Latham (1790). 
The resident rock-pipit of the British Islands is certain- 
ly distinct from the Scandinavian bird, but whether it is 
confined to Great Britain or inhabits also some part of 
continental Europe, I have not been able to determine 
with certainty. 
J). B. Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Museum (1885), X. 601. 
Rock-tose (tftliaHtfiemum 
tftttfare). 
a, longitudinal section of the 
flower, petals and sepals re- 
moved ; 6, caly* ; . fruit. 
5208 
rock-salt (rok'salt), . 
Salt existing in nature 
in the solid form, as dis- 
tinguished from salt in 
solution, either in sea- 
water or in salt springs 
or lakes. Rock-salt made 
into prisms and lenses is in- 
valuable in the study of the 
distribution of heat in the 
spectrum of the sun or other 
spectra, and in similar in- 
vestigations, since it is very 
highly diathennanous even to 
the rays of long wave-length, 
which are largely absorbed by 
glass. See solli. 
rock-samphire (rok'- 
sam'fir), n. A plant, 
Crithmum marilimum. 
See samphire. 
rock-scorpion (rok'- 
skor*pi-on), n. A name 
given to natives of Gib- 
raltar. [Slang.] 
rock-seal (rok'sel), . 
The common harbor- 
seal, Phoca ritulina, as 
commonly seen basking 
on tide-rocks. See cut 
under Phoca. 
rock-serpent (rok'ser'pent), . 1. A rock- 
snake. 2. A venomous serpent of the genus 
Bungarus, family Elapidse (or Najidse), native of 
India, and closely allied to the cobra, though 
the neck is not so dilatable. See Bungarus. 
rock-shaft (rok'shaft), n. In steam-engines, a 
shaft that oscillates or rocks on its journals 
instead of revolving; specifically, a vibrating 
shaft with levers Which works the slide-valves 
of some engines. This mode was generally adopted 
before the introduction of the direct-action mode of work- 
ing them. Also rocker-shaft, racking-shaft. 
rock-shell (rok'shel), n. A species of Purpura. 
The common rock-shell is P. lapillus. Some 
writers loosely extend the name to various re- 
lated shells. See cut under Purpura. 
rock-shrike (rok'shrik), . Same as rock-thrush. 
Latham, 1781. 
rock-slater (rok'sla't&r), n. A slater or wood- 
louse of the genus Liffia, found on rocky coasts. 
rock-snake (rok'snak), . A snake that fre- 
quents rocks or rocky places ; a rock-serpent ; 
specifically, a very large snake of the family 
Pythonidee; a python or anaconda, as Python 
molurus, or an Australian member of the genus 
Morelia. The true pythons are confined to the warmer 
parts of the Old World; but the term rock-snake has often 
been extended, as anaconda had been transferred, to the 
great boas of America, belonging to the family Boidse. See 
Morelia, and cuts under Python and Pythonidee. 
rock-snipe (rok'snip), . The purple sandpi- 
per, Tringa (Arquatella) maritima, which haunts 
rocky shores; the rock-bird or rock-plover: a 
rockwork 
rock-tar (rok'tar), ii. Rock-oil; petroleum, 
rock-temple (rok'tem'pl), ii. A temple hewn 
f a pit.h- 
elena See FetnUum ac or uis-ac coor, having a somewhat 
rock-plover (rok'pluv'er), n. 1. See plover g reas y feel an(J adhering strongly to the 
2. The rock-snipe. tongue, used for crayons and for washing cloth. 
rnrt-Tit-.armiiran (rnk'ts-r'mi m,r,\ , TI. . < ... Il ' 8 a hydrated silicate of aluminium containing some 
rocs ptarmigan (roK tar mi-gan), n. 1 he ptar- iron and is pr0 p erl y a variety of halioysite 
y finch of the 
black tail and a black stripe from bill to eye. 
bee cut under ptarmigan. 
rock-pulverizer (rok'puFve-ri-zer), n A mill 
or machine for breaking stone or ore See 
f mill stn f ^,/clo,- 
e-mill, stone-crusher. 
m*y afwnWFiMHVFi 
rock-punch (rok'punch), . Same as granite, 2. 
rock-rabbit (rok'rab'it), . A hyra'x, as the 
Cape cony, Hyrax capensis, called by the Dutch 
colonists klipdas. 
rock-rat (rok'rat), n. An African rodent of 
the genus Petromys, P. typicus. See cut under 
Petromys. 
rock-ribbed (rok'ribd), a. Having ribs of rock. 
The hills, 
Bock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun. 
Bryant, Thanatopsis. 
rock-rose (rok'roz), n. A plant of either of the 
genera Cistus and Helianthemum. These genera 
are closely allied, and were both (with others) included in 
the Lmnean genus Cistus. The species of Helianthemum 
are now often distinguished as sun-rose. See cut in next 
column, and cut under Cistus.- Australian rock-rose. 
see aiaoertia. 
rock-ruby (rok'ro'bi), n. A ruby-red garnet. 
rock-salmon (rok'sam'on), n. 1. The coalfish. 
[Eng.] 2. Acarangoid fish of the genus Se- 
riola, such as .S'. rii-oliana, found from Brazil to 
Florida, and S.falcata of the Gulf of Mexico; 
an amber-fish. 
the greater part of 
known is P. stvlta (originally FringOla petronia of Liii- 
iianis), known to the early English ornithologists also as 
the ring-sparrow, speckled, white-tailed, and foolish spar- 
row, the last designation giving rise to the technical 
term stulta, bestowed by Gmelin in 1788. This sparrow 
occurs from central Europe to China and cis-Saharic 
rock-staff (rok'staf), . The lever of a forge- 
bellows, or other vibrating bar in a machine. 
rock-Starling (rok 'star* ling), M. The rock- 
ouzel. [Local, Scotland.] 
rock-Sturgeon (rok'ster'jon), H. Same as lake- 
sturgeon. [Local, U. S.] 
rock-sucker (rok'suk'er), . A lamprey. See 
Petromyzon. 
rock-swallow (rok ' swol * 6), . A swallow 
which affixes its nest to rocks : not specific. 
Lark and chat and rock-sieallmc leaped to wing. 
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 7. 
rock-swift (rok'swift), n. A bird of the family 
Cypselidse and genus Panyptila, as /'. Mgattw 
(or melanoleuca), the white-throated rock-swift 
of western North America. It abounds in some 
places in the Rocky and other mountains, frequenting the 
most inaccessible cliffs and precipices, where it nests, and 
usually flies at a great height and with amazing celerity. 
It is blackish, mostly white underneath, with white tips of 
the secondaries, and is from 6J to 7 inches long and 14 
inches in extent of wings. See cut under Panyptila. 
Rock-temple. An interior at Ellora, India, with figure of Oudra. 
out of the solid rock, as at Ellora in Hindustan, 
and elsewhere. 
rock-thrush (rok'thrush), n. Any bird of the 
genus variously called Monticola, Petrocincta, 
Petrocossyphus, or Petropliitn. The species are 10 
or 12 in number, and range from southern Europe through 
Africa and to China and Japan. The sexes are quite un- 
like : the males of nearly all have blue throats and chest- 
nut breasts, with black bills and feet. The best-known, 
and the one to which the English name rock-thrUte was giv- 
en by Latham in 1781, is M. or P. saxatilit of southern Eu- 
rope and many parts of Asia and Africa, prettily variegated 
with cobalt. blue, bluish-black, white, and chestnut. The 
blue rock-thrash, also of southern Europe, and with an ex- 
tensive Asiatic and African range, is St. or P. ci/anea, the 
blue or solitary thrush of Latham (1783), with about thirty 
other names, and mostly of a dark slaty-blue color. Its 
oriental congener is the solitaire, or pensive thrush, M. or 
P. nolitaria, ranging from Japan and China through the 
Malay archipelago. All these birds are saxicoline, nest in 
holes, lay blue eggs, and are fair songsters. They appear 
to be the nearest Old World representatives or allies of the 
American bluebirds of the genus Sialia. 
rock-tools (rok'tolz), n. pi. Tools used in drill- 
ing rock. See cable-tools. 
rock-tripe (rok'trip), n. [Tr. F. tripe de rocli<:~\ 
Lichens of the genus Umbilicaria. They grow 
upon rocks in high northern latitudes, and have been the 
means of preserving for weeks or months the lives of arc- 
tic travelers. The name is suggested by the expanded and 
seemingly blistered thallus. 
rock-trout (rok 'trout), M. 1. The common 
American brook-trout, Salvelinus fontitialis, as 
occurring in Lake Superior. 2. A chiroid fish 
of the genus Hexagrammus ; especially, the 
boregat orbodieron, H. decagrammes, abundant 
on the North Pacific coast of North America, 
about 18 inches long. Also called sea-trout and 
starling. See cut under Hexagra mmux. 
rock-turquoise (rok'ter-koiz'), H. See tur- 
quoise. 
rock-Violet (rok'vi'o-let), n. An alga, Cliroole- 
pus lolithus, growing on moist rocks in the 
Alps, the White Mountains, etc. Stones over- 
grown with it emit, especially when moistened, 
a strong fragrance of violets. 
rock-warbler (rok'war*bler), H. A small Aus- 
tralian bird, so named by Lewin in 1822, respect- 
ing the affinities of which there is much differ- 
ence of opinion. It was described as the ruddy war- 
bler by Latham in 1801, and a genus was framed for its re- 
ception by Gould in 1837. It is now technically known 
as Origma rubricata, and placed by the latest authority in 
theornithological waste-basket (TimeliidsB). It is 5| inches 
long and of a sooty-brown color varied with ruddy hues, 
and chiefly inhabits Kew South Wales. It is said to haunt 
rocky watercourses, and is sometimes called cataract- 
bird. 
rock-water (rok'wa/'ter), n. Water issuing 
from a rock. 
It [the Rhone) was extremely muddy at its entrance, 
when I saw it, though as clear as rockwater at its going out. 
Additon, Remarks on Italy, Geneva, and the Lake. 
The river Wherfe . . . runs in a bed of stone, and looks 
as clear as rock-icater. 
Defoe, Tour through Great Britain, III. 124. (Davies.) 
rockweed (rok'wed), . A seaweed of the gen- 
era FIICIIS, Sargassum, etc., common on the 
rocks exposed at low tide. Fmux vesiculoms and 
F. nodofut are especially abundant on the Kew England 
coast. See Fvctis(foT description and cnt)and kflp-, 1 (a). 
Also called rock-kelp. 
rock-Winkle (rok'wing'kl), H. A periwinkle, 
Littorina subtenebrosa, frequenting rocks. 
rock-wood (rok'wud), . Ligniform asbestos. 
It is of a brown color, and in its general ap- 
pearance greatly resembles fossil wood. 
rockwork (rok'werk), 11. 1. Stones fixed in 
mortar in imitation of the irregular surface of 
natural rocks, and arranged to form a mound, or 
constructed as a wall. 2. A rockery; a design 
formed of fragments of rocks or large stones in 
gardens or pleasure-grounds : often forming a 
kind of grotto. 3. A natural wall or mass of 
