Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BIRD, n.¹ As in St.Eng. except in the following. [bɪ̢̈rd, bɛrd, bʌrd]

1. Young of animals. Obs. in St.Eng. (N.E.D.).Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Bird, the young of quadrupeds, particularly of the fox. [Jam. gives no mod. examples.]Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Orcad. Sk. Bk. 49:
The peur mither selkie rowed hersel' ower the face o' de rock i'tae the sea; bit her twa birds hed no' wit tae flee. [See also Bird-alane.]

2. Phr.: a' the birds [birdies] in the air, a game similar to “Oranges and Lemons.”Sc. 1821 Blackw. Mag. X. 36:
A' the Birds in the Air and A' the Days of the Week, are also common games.Sc. 1898 A. B. Gomme Trad. Games of Eng. Scot. and Ireland Vol. II. (Add.) 403:
A' the birdies i' the air Tick tae to my tail.

3. Combs.: (1) Birdies' bannocks, “wood sorrel” [Oxalis] (e.Mry. 1914 R.C. in T.S.D.C. I. 21).

(2) birdie's biscuits, the leaves of wood-sorrel (Abd. 1965 Press & Journal (12 July)). Cf. birdie's bannocks.

(3) bird-nest, the (inflorescence of the) wild carrot, Daucus carota. Also in Eng. dial. m.Sc. 1811 J. Macdonald Agric. Hebr. 313:
The wild carrot, daucus carota Linnaei, (sometimes called bird's nest in the lowlands of Scotland). Ags. 1848 W. Gardiner Flora Frf. 84:
This is the origin of our garden carrot, and is sometimes called Bird's nest, from its umbels being concave, especially when in fruit.

(4) bird's ee, birdies' een, (i) one of the primrose family, Primula farinosa. Also in Eng. dial. Mry. 1914 R.C. in T.S.D.C. I. 21:
Birdies' een, the speedwell.Peb. 1711 A. Pennecuik Tweeddale (1815) 177:
At the water side here is to be seen Verbasculum, Alpinum umbellatum rubrum, called Bird's-eye.nw.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 56:
Bird's een, the germander-speedwell, Veronica chamædrys.

(ii) a dotted pattern woven in linen. Also written birdy. Ags. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XII. 194:
Osnaburgh, scrim, and birdy, to the amount of about 38,000 l. Sterling, were manufactured from September 1791 to September 1792. Rxb. c.1800 Mem. S. Sibbald (Hett 1926) 158:
In the country for Table cloths they seemed to have but three general patterns, . . . Dambrod, Birds'ee and Barley pickle.

(iii) birdie's een, birdie's eenies, boiled tapioca.Bnff. 1981 Glasgow Herald (28 Apr.)  1:
Yet even in Macduff, the K77 capital, tapioca is a no go pudding area. In the days when Macduff did lay into frogs spawn it was called "birdie's eenies", bird's eyes.

(5) Bird-seed, (a) "groundsel" [Senecio vulgaris] (nw.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 56); (b) "the seed-stalk of the plantain, especially of Plantago major" (n., w.Rxb. Ib.).

(6) Bird's maet, "congealed matter round the eyes" (Abd.⁴ 1932).

4.  In dim. form birdie, specif. a young halibut, Hippoglossus vulgaris (Abd. 1878 Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Abd. 90; Mry., Abd. 1975).