Ornith. [ad. F. todier (1764 in Littré), ad. L. todus, name of some small bird, adopted by Linnæus as generic name.] Any member or species of the genus Todus or family Todidæ of small insectivorous birds, resembling and allied to the kingfisher; of which four species are found in the Greater Antilles.
1773. Pennant, Genera Birds, 17. Tody, bill thin, depressed, broad…. Inhabits the hot parts of America…. The name first given it by Dr. Brown, I suppose, from Todi, small birds.
1834. trans. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., I. 292.
1847. Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 74. I have never seen the Tody eating vegetable food.
1879. E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, 276. The Little Todies … are only found in a few of the West Indian Islands.
