| 释义 |
piet-my-vrou S. Afr.|ˈpɪtmeɪfrəʊ|
Also piet-myn-vrouw.
[Afrikaans, lit. ‘Peter my wife’, echoic, f. the bird's call.]
The red-chested cuckoo, Notococcyx (or Cuculus) solitarius; also, occasionally used as a name for the noisy robin-chat, Cossypha bicolor, which imitates the call of the red-chested cuckoo.
[1790E. Helme tr. Le Vaillant's Trav. Afr. II. xviii. 367 One of them [sc. the Hottentots] named Pit, was the first who brought me this bird... He had no sooner shot the hen, than the cock flew after him, repeating several times Pit me frow; it must be observed, it is the usual cry of this bird, as I was afterwards convinced, on shooting some of the same kind. ]1835A. Steedman Wanderings S. Afr. I. v. 189 The ‘Piet myn vrouw’, a bird of which the Hottentots relate many amusing stories. 1923F. W. Fitzsimons Nat. Hist. S. Afr.: Birds II. 31 (caption) Noisy Robin Chat, or Piet-myn-vrouw (Cossypha bicolor). An active and efficient policeman of the forests and dense scrub on the eastern side of South Africa. 1937M. Alston Wanderings of Bird-Lover in Afr. viii. 50 The Dutch call him [sc. the noisy robin-chat] the piet-myn-vrouw because of his imitating the red-chested cuckoo. 1949Cape Argus Mag. 5 Nov. 7/6 The piet-my-vrou and turtle doves make the afternoon drowsy with their calls. 1966E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xii. 216 Sometimes in the bush we hear..the Piet-my-vrou, and its call is unmistakable. 1971Stand. Encycl. S. Afr. III. 517/1 The piet-my-vrou or red-chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) is a fairly large, brownish cuckoo. |