softbilled

English

Alternative forms

  • soft-billed

Etymology

From soft +‎ bill +‎ -ed.

Adjective

softbilled (not comparable)

  1. Of birds, preferring to feed on relatively soft foods, such as insects or fruits.
    Antonym: hardbilled
    • 1824, T. Forster, editor, The Perennial Calendar and Companion to the Almanack; Illustrating the Events of Every Day in the Year as Connected With History, Chronology, Botany, Natural History, Astronomy, Popular Customs [and] Antiquities With Useful Rules of Health, Observations on the Weather; Explanations of the Fasts and Festivals of the Church and Other Miscellaneous Useful Information‎[1], London: Harding, Mavor and Lepard, page 135:
      Most of the softbilled birds feed on insects, and not on grain or seeds, and therefore usually retire before winter; but the following, though they eat insects, remain with us during the whole year […]
    • 1908 July 11, “The Novices Notebook”, in Cage Birds and Bird World, volume XIII, number 339, page 623:
      For softbilled British and foreign birds a liberal supply of ripe, juicy fruits and berries, such as cherries, strawberries, raspberries, or currants, may be very usefully employed, in addition to an increased supply of natural insects, caterpillars, larvæ, and the thousand and one other forms of insect life which are now so abundant everywhere.
    • 1970, A. Rutgers and K. A. Norris, editors, Encyclopaedia of Aviculture‎[2], volume 3, Poole: Blandford Press, →ISBN, page 14:
      These birds can be kept very well in a well-planted aviary on the standard softbilled diet, with the addition of raw minced meat, 12 mealworms daily, and if possible other kinds of live insects.
    • 1981, Sonia Roberts, The Right Way to Keep Pet Birds‎[3], Gramercy, →ISBN, page 90:
      Like all softbilled insect and fruit eaters, if kept in a cage, the bottom of the cage should be lined with blotting or newspaper rather than sand, to absorb the damp droppings.
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