canary-biter, noun

Origin:
South African Dutch
obs.
The fiscal (sense 2), Lanius collaris. Also (partial translation of) canari-byter, canary byter.
1795 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. I. 293Fiscal and Canary-byter were the appellations given to a black and white bird (Lanius collaris)..common in the town.
[c1808 C. von Linné System of Nat. Hist. VIII. 342It [feeds]..occasionally upon young birds; a circumstance well known to Colonists at the Cape, who call it zwarte canari byter or bonte canari byter, (black or spotted bird-killer).]
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 18The loud and clear whistle of the canari-byter (canary biter)..is heard from afar, its notes being very remarkable.
1822 J. Latham Gen. Hist. of Birds II. 23The Canary-biter, or Fiscal-bird...The tail feathers in the cinerous species are twice as broad as in the Fiscal.
1936 [see fiskaal].
The fiscal (sense 2), Lanius collaris. Also (partial translation of) canari-byter, canary byter.
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