Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having a horny spur on the pinion, as various birds. It is a weapon of offense and defense. It is sometimes double, as is well shown iu the cut under Palamedea. See also cuts under jacana and Plectropterus.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Zoöl.) Having one or more spurs on the bend of the wings.
Examples
“Birds include Denham's bustard Neotis cafra denhami, ground hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus, violet turaco Musophaga violacea, spur-winged goose Plectropterus gambensis, white-faced tree duck Dendrocygna viduata, martial eagle Polemaetus bellicosus and bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus.”
“Large flocks of spur-winged geese, or machikwe, were common.”
A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries
“The large black and white spur-winged goose (a constant marauder of native gardens) springs up, and circles round to find out what the disturbance can be, and then settles down again with a splash.”
A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries
“Occasionally we saw pairs of the stately jabirus, or adjutant-looking marabouts, wading among the shoals, and spur-winged geese, and other water-fowl, but there was scarcely a crocodile or a hippopotamus to be seen.”
A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries
“- Northern spur-winged goose (Plectropterus gambensis gambensis).”
“The spur-winged jacanas are very skilful in their dainty treading of water-lily leaves; but here were good-sized insects rowing about on the water itself.”
“A cackle arose, so shrill and sudden, that it seemed to have been the cause of the shower of drops from the palm-fronds; and then, on the great leaves of the Regia, which defy simile, we perceived the first feathered folk of this single tropical glimpse -- spur-winged jacanas, whose rich rufus and cool lemon-yellow no dampness could deaden.”
“On the same islet are to be seen the eggs of the Indian river tern, the black-bellied tern, the swallow-plover, the spur-winged plover and the Indian skimmer.”
“Then it appeared, an old spur-winged gander, probably the king of the flock, flying so low that it only cleared the cliff edge by about twenty feet, and passed over not more than thirty yards up, an easy shot.”
“In the rainy season all the water holes and lagoons literally teemed with black duck, wood-duck, the black and white Burdekin duck, teal, spur-winged plover, herons and other birds, and a single shot would account for a dozen.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spur-winged’.
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Bird Wirds: Adjectives
Adjectives used in actual (non-taxonomic) bird names, past and present.
roseate, glossy, whooping, neotropic, pelagic, ferruginous, crested, whiskered, marbled, tufted, horned, eared and 818 more...
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