> as lemmas

a1577 G. Gascoigne Grief of Joye iii. xx, in Compl. Wks. (1910) II. 544 For vertue keepes, her closett in owre skulles, And coomes but seldome in great noddyes nests.

1578 G. Best True Disc. Passage to Cathaya (1867) iii. 232 Certayne fowles, as wylmots, nodies, gulles, etc., which there seeme only to live by sea.

1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 16 Small Sea-Fowls, call'd Black Nodies, flying to and fro.

1703 W. Dampier Voy. New Holland iii. 142 We saw also some Boobies, and Noddy-birds.

1707 H. Sloane Voy. Islands I. 31 We had also Boobies.., as well as Noddies..; they are so called by Seamen,..because they suffer themselves to be catch'd by the Hand.

1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 550 Shearwaters, terns, noddies, gannets,..appeared numerous about us.

1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto II lxxxii. 160 At length they caught two boobies, and a noddy.

1855 E. Blyth Let. 1–8 Oct. in C. Darwin Corr. (1989) V. 464 The next [most cosmopolitan bird] is the Noddy Tern.

1880 Q. Rev. Jan. 202 The noddies were torn in pieces and swallowed raw as they were caught.

1932 Discovery Mar. 85/1 A great colony of ‘noddy’ and ‘sooty’ terns has arrived at Bird Key, one of the islands of the Tortugas group.

1983 Birds Summer 54/2 The enormous numbers of noddies and other seabirds are important to the survival of two species of skink.

1992 Nat. World Winter 23/1 Tree-nesting seabirds, such as the lesser noddy tern, have therefore increased.