shadbird

English

Etymology

shad +‎ bird, since it appears at the same time as the shad (a fish).

Noun

shadbird (plural shadbirds)

1. (dated, UK, dialect) The American snipe; Wilson's snipe (Gallinago delicata).
2. (dated, UK, dialect) The common snipe or European sandpiper (Gallinago gallinago).

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “shadbird”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)