birdhood

A wren shot away from the porch, as the Judge and his protege entered it, and went fluttering in and out through the green branches waving over it quite distractedly, as if she had never seen a human being there in her whole birdhood before.

The Old Homestead Ann S. Stephens

Yet with unfailing instinct he squats on some twig, fluffs up his feathers, tucks his wee head behind his wing, and sleeps the sleep of his first adult birdhood as soundly as if this position of rest had been familiar to him since he broke through the shell.

The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year William Beebe 1919

So many hundreds were there, and their shadows so multiplied them, that they seemed less like birds than like some dream of a bird heaven -- essential birdhood.

Gone to Earth Mary Gladys Meredith Webb 1904

She won't have time to get into her birdhood now, "chuckled Nell," so she's making the best of it.

The Chauffeur and the Chaperon Karl Anderson 1901

'I conjure you,' said the parrot earnestly, 'I conjure you by our common birdhood to help me in my misfortune.'

The Magic City 1891

But to my surprise out of the abnormal-looking egg came in due time a normal-looking chick which grew to birdhood without any mishaps.

The Wit of a Duck and Other Papers John Burroughs 1879

Our evening meal was further enriched by the addition of a great many small gulls 'eggs, which we had found on an island during the day -- which, saving one or two that showed evident symptoms of being far advanced towards birdhood, were excellent.

Hudson Bay 1859

Not a word was tittered during the first half-hour, till a queer-looking mortal, who had spent several years of his prime of birdhood at old Calgarth, and picked up a tolerable command of the Westmoreland dialect by means of the Hamiltonian system, exclaimed, "I'se weel nee brussen -- there be's Mister Wudsworth -- Ho, ho, ho!"

Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2 John Wilson 1819