sea-parrotn.

1664 R. Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 9 A Sea-Parret or Coppernose of Greenland.

1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. ii. 88 Amongst all web-footed Birds..this hath a peculiar Bill; and because it seem'd to those that gave him this Name to be like that of a Parret, therefore they called him also a Parret.]

1790 Coll. Voy. round World VI. xviii. 2127 We saw numbers of sea parrots, and small ice-birds.

1865 P. H. Gosse Land & Sea 30 These are known by the fishermen as sea parrots or coulternebs; but are more generally designated in books as puffins.

1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 219 Puffin... Its swelling beak..has given it the names of: Sea parrot (Norfolk). Cf. Perroquet de mer (France). [etc.].

1945 T. Raddall Tambour & Other Stories 9 Hosts of sea birds—gulls, terns, Mother Carey's chickens, plover, puffins which the Hennessys called ‘sea-parrots’—nesting in the peat or in the crannies of the sheer cliffs.

1994 Denver Post 15 Dec. a29/1 But life hasn't always been easy for these quirky birds—sometimes called sea parrots—on the islands off the coast of Maine.

2001 Birds (RSPB) Summer 112/2 It is not so clear how the word [‘puffin’] came to be applied to the sea parrot, as our puffin was known till well into the 19th century.

1666 J. Davies tr. C. de Rochefort Hist. Caribby-Islands 98 There are also in these Parts certain Fishes scaled like a Carp, but as to colour are as green as a Parrot, whence they are by some called Sea-Parrots.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Sea-Parret, a Fish that has very sparkling and beautiful Eyes, the Balls of which are as clear as Crystal [etc.].

1883 Official Catal. Internat. Fisheries Exhib. (ed. 4) 105 Sea Wolf..Sea Parrot..Sea Sow, Cock Peddle..Sea Mouse.