Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A granivorous bird; specifically, a bird of the genus Spermophila or Sporophila (as S. moreleti of Texas and Mexico) and some related genera of small American finches. See also
Spermestes , and compareChondestes .
Etymologies
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Examples
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The black-hooded antwren (Myrmotherula urosticta), Bahia tapaculo (Scytalopus psychopompus) and Dubois 'seed-eater (Sporophila falcirostris) are just a few restricted range species that utilize the mangroves in this area.
Bahia mangroves 2008
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In contrast, habitat specialization is rare in savanna birds, and many of them are able to proliferate in agricultural areas as is the case of almost all seed-eater birds (pigeons, doves, finches, sparrows, crested bobwhite).
Llanos 2007
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A seed-eater will come back to the nest bearing insects, and so on...
A post about birds Glenda Larke 2007
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A seed-eater will come back to the nest bearing insects, and so on...
Archive 2007-11-01 Glenda Larke 2007
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A marathoner, a bird-watcher, a seed-eater — a habit he had acquired from his observation of finches — the doctor was preternaturally drawn to birds and to people who were famous.
The Fourth Hand Irving, John, 1942- 2001
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This voracious seed-eater may well be the most abundant bird species on earth, and its importance as a pest has increased in recent years despite all the control operations that have been mounted against it.
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Now what special difficulty would there be in natural selection preserving all the slight individual variations in the shape of the beak, which were better and better adapted to break open the seeds, until a beak was formed, as well constructed for this purpose as that of the nuthatch, at the same time that habit, or compulsion, or spontaneous variations of taste, led the bird to become more and more of a seed-eater?
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Even the slate-colored snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles it occasionally.
Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and Other Papers John Burroughs 1879
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This is the first time scientists have found a seed-eater with a knack for detecting heat given off by its plant meal, Takács says.
Science News / Features, Blog Entries, Column Entries, Issues, News Items and Book Reviews 2008
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