[G. zuckervogel is used in senses 1 and 2. Sense 3 is after Du. suikervogel.] A name applied to various small birds that feed (or were supposed to feed) on the nectar of flowers.
† 1. = CANARY-BIRD. Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. xi. 242/2. The Canary Bird, or Sugar Bird … is as big as a common Titmouse.
2. A bird of the genus Certhiola, belonging to the family Cærebidæ, in the W. Indies and S. America; also applied to the genera Certhia and Dacnis.
1787. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, Suppl. 128. Famous Creeper…. A Specimen of this, in the collection of the late Mr. Boddam, was called by the name of Sugar-Bird.
1879. E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, 255. The Sugar-birds, or Cerebidæ, are confined to the tropical parts of America.
1894. Newton, Dict. Birds, III. 761. The Banana Quit is the Sugar-bird.
1902. Nature, 25 Sept., 541/2. A Blue Sugar-bird (Dacnis cayana) from Brazil.
3. Applied to various members of the family Nectariniidæ or Sun-birds of Africa.
1822. W. J. Burchell, Trav. S. Afr., I. ii. 18. The delicate Humming-birds (Trochili) of South America are, in Southern Africa, represented by the Nectariniæ, here called by the Dutch colonists Suiker-vogels (sugar-birds), from having been observed … to feed principally on the honey of the flowers of the Suiker-bosch (sugar-bush).
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., 22. Brilliant as the glancing plumes Of sugar-birds among its blooms.
1908. Chr. Express, 1 April, 55/1. A male Long-tailed sugar-bird (Promerops cafer).
