Definition of "scalie"

While we were there a couple of scalies came out and started up the street, but seeing the strikers there they turned around and went back into the saloon.

1908 November, “On the Firing Line”, in Machinists' Monthly Journal, volume 20, number 11, page 998

In the car department we would repair cars that were disabled and placed in bad order by a bunch of scalies taking the place of striking switchmen, engineers, Firemen, etc.

1911 March, “From Brittania Lodge, No. 361”, in Railway Carmen's Journal, volume 16, number 3, page 129

In Dallas, women scalies cursed women pickets; four pickets went to jail for disorderly conduct while the scalies went on to work.

1935, International Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' Union Journal, volume 30, page 830

[…] even allowing for the detours through the back roads to avoid the "scalies" who man the highway truck-weight checking stations.

1984 August 7, Bruce Stannard, “The demons that haunt the long-run truckies”, in The Bulletin, page 68

Approaching Port Augusta I had lights flashed at me, warning that the weighbridge was open. I expected this because the scalies had passed me on the road earlier.

1991, Leslie P. Richards, Truckin' Tales: The Early Days, Lulu.com, published 2007, page 43

Scalies are stationed 24/7 on the northern outskirts of the Towers to ensure no one does tries to do a rat-run. The weight limit might soon impact on a large number of jobs.

2009 March 3, John Andersen, “Floodwater graveyard”, in Townsville Bulletin

About the same size as the valley quail and the Gambel's quail, the scaled quail is often referred to as the "drab shirttail relative." Gray-blue in color (often known locally as "blue quail"), with a slight black tipping of the chest and breast plumage that creates scalelike markings, (hence the nickname "scalies"), […]

2003, Durwood Hollis, Hunting Upland Game & Waterfowl, Krause Publications, pages 40–41

I sensed the birds' presence, but I had no idea if they were Gambel's or scalies, even though the habitat read scaled quail.

2003, Ben O. Williams, Winston: The Life of a Gun Dog, Willow Creek Press, published 2003, page 165

Then the exploding whirr of wings in the wind — a mixed covey of bobwhites and scalies.

2007, Jeffrey Engel, Sherol Engel, & James A. Swan, Chasing The Hunter's Dream: 1,001 of the World's Best Duck Marshes, Deer Runs, Elk Meadows, Pheasant Fields, Bear Woods, Safaris, and Extraordinary Hunts, HarperCollins, published 2007, page 212

Scalies are more prone to be in open grass away from cover.

2008, Tom Arnhold, Web Parton, Wingshooter's Guide to Kansas Upland Birds and Waterfowl, Wilderness Adventures Press, Inc., published 2008, page 56