cirl
(sɜːl)
[Introduced by Latham 1783, to render Linnæus's name Emberiza Cirlus; Cirlus having been the name used by Aldrovandi (1600, Orn. II. 855), as a latinized form of cirlo ‘name applied by the Bolognese to the Zigolo nero’; probably from zirlare to whistle as a thrush. See Count Salvatori, Elenco degli Uccelli Italiani (1887) 163.]
In cirl bunting: the name of a species of bunting, Emberiza Cirlus.
| [1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 246/2 The Cirlus [hath] the Bill thick and short.] 1783 Latham Gen. Synops. Birds II. 190. 1802 Montagu Ornith. Dict. s.v. Bunting, Cirl. 1812 Pennant Zool. I. 438 The discovery of the Cirl Bunting, as a British bird..in Devonshire in..1800. 1829 Jrnl. Naturalist 157 Mr. Montagu's failure in being able to raise the young of the cirl bunting, until he discovered that they required grasshoppers. |