Maʹnucodiaʹta (The)

An old name for a bird of paradise. It is a corruption of the Malay manute-dewata, the bird of the gods.

“Less pure the footless fowl of heaven, that never

Rests upon earth, but on the wing for ever,

Hovering oʹer flowers, their fragrant food inhale.

Drink the descending dew upon the way:

And sleep aloft while floating on the gale.”

Southey: Curse of Kehama, xxi. 6.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.