The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #122263 Message #2742163
Posted By: Mick Pearce (MCP)
09-Oct-09 - 01:19 PM
Thread Name: Upon a tree a cuckoo/Auf einem Baum ein Kuckuck
Subject: RE: Upon a tree a cuckoo/Auf einem Baum ein Kuckuck
Tinker - it's certainly used in England for a (usually) small bird, especially to young children.
Partridge gives for dick(e)y-bird: A small bird, coll ca 1845 (also a harlot, ca 1820!).
It's also still used in the expression not a dicky bird or not a dicky, usually in the sense of not having heard anything (usually about something).
Mick