a. and sb. Ornith. Also -yle. [See ZYGO- and DACTYL.] a. adj. Having the toes ‘yoked’ or arranged in pairs, i.e., two before and two behind, as the feet of a scansorial bird, or the bird itself; yoke-toed. b. sb. A yoke-toed bird. Also Zygodactylic, Zygodactylous adjs.
[1842. Brande, Dict. Sci., etc., Zygodactyles, the name given by M. Temminck to an order of Climbing Birds.]
1828–32. Webster, Zygodactylous.
1831. Gard. & Menag. Zool. Soc., Birds, 73. By the structure of their toes, which are partially zygodactyle (the intermediate ones being turned forwards, and the two lateral ones most commonly taking the opposite direction).
1835. Partington, Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist., I. 445/1. Feet which accomplish these purposes are all zygodactylic, or yoke-toed.
1890. Coues, Handbk. Ornithol., 187. The arrangement of toes in pairs, two before and two behind,… is called zygodactyl or zygodactylous. Ibid., 188. The true hind toe is wanting, the outer anterior one being reversed as usual in zygodactyls.
