| 释义 |
ˈsnake-bird
Also snakebird, snake bird.
[snake n.]
1. A bird belonging to the genus Plotus, esp. the American species P. anhinga, characterized by its long snake-like neck; the darter or water-turkey.
1791W. Bartram Carolina 132 Here is..in the waters all over Florida, a very curious and handsome bird, the people call the Snake Birds. 1814A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. IX. 79 Black-bellied Darter, or Snake-bird, Plotus melanogaster. 1838Audubon Ornith. IV. 136 Anhinga or Snake⁓bird, Plotus anhinga. 1883Fish. Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 152 The Darter, sometimes known as the snake bird, is not at all uncommon in Bengal. 1895Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. IV. 280 The darters, snake-birds, or snake-necks, form a group of four species.
2. dial. The wryneck, Iynx torquilla.
1831Rennie Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 576 Long Tongue. Emmet Hunter. Snake Bird. 1844Zoologist II. 449 The bird..proved to be what is here [in Kent] provincially called a ‘snake-bird’, and only known among the lower orders by that name. 1848Ibid. VI. 2186 The wryneck [in Norfolk] is the ‘cuckoo's leader’ and ‘snake-bird’. 1889H. Saunders Brit. Birds 262 When disturbed, the sitting bird makes a loud hissing,..which has led to the popular name of ‘Snake-bird’. |