Forms: 7–9 beccafigo, 7 becchafigge, 8–9 beccafica, 8 beccifigo, 9 becafico, -ca, beccafigue, 7– beccafico. [It.; lit. ‘fig-pecker,’ f. beccare to peck + fico fig.] A name given in Italy to small migratory birds of the genus Sylvia, much esteemed as dainties in the autumn, when they have fattened on figs and grapes: they are identified with the British Pettychaps and Blackcaps.
1621. Burton, in Lamb, Cur. Fragm. (1823), 574. Beccaficos which men in Sussex eat.
1708. W. King, Cookery (1807), 81. Quails, becafigoes, ortolans, were sent To grace the levee of a gen’ral’s tent.
1732. Pope, Hor. Sat., II. ii. 39. Children sacred held a Martin’s nest, Till Becca-ficos sold so dev’lish dear.
1817. Byron, Beppo, xliii. I also like to dine on becaficas.
1835. E. Jesse, Gleanings Nat. Hist., Ser. III. 77. The Beccafico annually visits the fig orchard near that place [Worthing].
1861. Miss Beaufort, Egypt. Sepul., I. vii. 144. Delicious little beccafigues, of which a hundred may be shot in one tree.
