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A nest: a repository for the eggs of birds, insects, etc.; a breeding place; esp., the place or substance where parasites or the germs of a disease effect lodgment or are developed.

A small, plain, brown and gray European song bird (Luscinia luscinia). It sings at night, and is celebrated for the sweetness of its song.

The great river of Egypt. Nile bird. (Zoöl.) (a) The wryneck. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The crocodile bird. -- Nile goose (Zoöl.), the Egyptian goose. See Note under Goose, 2.

The northern butcher bird.

Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; as, nocturnal birds and insects.

The arctic fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). Sometimes also applied to other sea birds.

Having a separate and simple tendon to flex the first toe, or hallux, as do passerine birds.

Any other similar bird of the same genus.

The back or upper surface, as of a bird.

A key of the piano or organ. The wakeful bird . . . tunes her nocturnal note. Milton. That note of revolt against the eighteenth century, which we detect in Goethe, was struck by Winckelmann. W. Pater.

A genus of birds allied to the gallinules, but having rudimentary wings and incapable of flight. Notornis Mantelli was first known as a fossil bird of New Zealand, but subsequently a few individuals were found living on the southern island. It is supposed to be now nearly or quite extinct.

A European bird (Nucifraga caryocatactes), allied to the magpie and crow. Its color is dark brown, spotted with white. It feeds on nuts, seeds, and insects.

Any one of several species of birds of the genus Sitta, as the European species (Sitta Europæa). The white-breasted nuthatch (S. Carolinensis), the red-breasted nuthatch (S. Canadensis), the pygmy nuthatch (S. pygmæa), and others, are American.

A South American bird of the genus Nyctibius, allied to the goatsuckers.

Totipalmate; -- said of the feet of certain birds. See Illust. of Aves. Oared shrew (Zoöl.), an aquatic European shrew (Crossopus ciliatus); -- called also black water shrew.

nauspicious; ill-omened. [R.] [A Latinism] At the cheerful light, The groaning ghosts and birds obscene take flight. Dryden.

ight; indistinctly seen; hidden; retired; remote from observation; unnoticed. The obscure bird Clamored the livelong night. Shak. The obscure corners of the earth. Sir J. Davies.

; frequenting the ocean, especially mid-ocean. Petrels are the most aërial and oceanic of birds. Darwin.

toid peg (Anat.), the anterior process of the centrum of the second vertebra, or axis, in birds and mammals. See Axis.

An extinct order of ostrichlike aquatic birds having teeth, which are set in a groove in the jaw. It includes Hesperornis, and allied genera. See Hesperornis. [Written also Odontholcae, and Odontoholcae.]