| 释义 |
dirt-bird
A local name of the skua, Stercorarius crepidatus, called also Dirty Allan; also of the green woodpecker, Gecinus viridis.
1847–78Halliw., Dirt-bird, the woodpecker. North. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 100 Green Woodpecker..The constant iteration of its cry before rain (which brings out the insects on which it feeds) gives it the names Rain bird..Dirt bird, Storm cock. Ibid. 210 Richardson's Skua (Stercorarius crepidatus)..from the vulgar opinion that the gulls are muting, when, in reality, they are only disgorging fish newly caught. Dirt bird (Dundrum Bay)..Dirty allan or aulin..Dung bird. 1886W. Brockie Leg. & Superst. Durham 136 Several species of small birds are confounded under the..title of ‘dirt birds’, because they sing on the approach of rain. |