Also avadavat. [The name in various Indian langs.] An Indian song-bird (Estrilda amandava), brown in color with white spots.
1777. Sheridan, Sch. Scand., V. i. A few presents now and then … congou tea, avadavats, and Indian crackers.
1813. J. Forbes, Orient. Mem., I. 47. Amadavats and other songsters are brought thither [Bombay] from Surat.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, II. xiii. 49. The Bengali baboos make the pretty little males of the amadavat … fight together.
