Also umber. [ad. L. umbra or F. ombre shade, shadow, after mod.L. umbretta, F. ombrette, Brisson’s name for the bird.] An African bird (Scopus umbretta) with deep-brown plumage; the hammerhead or African crow. (Cf. UMBRETTE.)
1773. Pennant, Gen. Birds, 44. Umbre. Bill, strong, thick, strait, compressed, the upper mandible composed of several pieces.
1785. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, III. I. 30. Tufted Umbre…. Size of a Crow…. The bill is three inches and a half in length.
1819. Stephens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool., XI. II. 636. Crested Umbre, with the whole body fuscous.
1848. Maunder’s Treas. Nat. Hist., 716/1. The Crested Umbre (Scopus umbretta) … is … of an umber colour, and the male is crested.
1890. Sat. Rev., 1 Feb., 139/2. The umbre … feeds upon fish and frogs, worms, snails, and insects.
