| 释义 |
passerine, a. (n.) Ornith.|ˈpæsəraɪn|
[f. L. passer sparrow + -ine1.]
1. Of or belonging to the Passeres or Perchers, an order of birds.
1776Pennant Zool. (ed. 4) I. 254 Order V. Passerine. 1825Waterton Wand. S. Amer. ii. i. 165 A bird..of the passerine tribe and very common about the houses. 1880A. R. Wallace Isl. Life ii. 15 Among passerine birds the raven has the widest range. 1894R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 1 Passerine or Perching Birds.
2. Of about the size of a sparrow. In various bird-names, as passerine ground-dove (Chamæpelia passerina), passerine owl (Glaucidium passerinum), passerine parrot (Psittacula passerina).
1883List Animals Zool. Soc. (1896) 343 Passerine Parrot. Ibid. 379 Passerine Owl. Ibid. 465 Passerine Ground-Dove.
B. n. A passerine bird.
1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc. s.v., All the Passerines have short and slender legs, with three toes before and one behind. 1893Newton Dict. Birds Introd. 57 The Aves Passerinæ, divided [by Gloger] into two Suborders:—Singing Passerines (melodusæ), and Passerines without an apparatus of Song-muscles (anomalæ). |