And according to the Oxford English Dictionary online (my emphasis):
Oxford English Dictionary | The definitive record of the English language
warbler, n.
1.
a. One who, or something which, warbles or sings; a singer, songster.
b. slang.
1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang
Warblers, singers who go about to ‘free and easy’ meetings, to chaunt for pay, for grog, or for the purpose of putting off benefit-tickets.
c. slang. A female singer.
d. colloq. A telephone which warbles.
2.
a. In the Old World: Any one of the numerous small plain-coloured singing-birds of the family Sylviinae, including the blackcap, white-throat, and others having names in which
warbler is the second element, as garden-warbler, grasshopper-warbler, reed warbler n., sedge-warbler, willow-warbler, wood-warbler.
b. In America: One of the small, usually bright-coloured, birds, with little power of song, of the family Mniotiltidae.
c. In Australia and New Zealand: A bird of the genera
Gerygone, Malurus, and others.
3. Sc. A group of grace-notes on the bagpipe.
4. Little Warbler: app. the title of a song-book.‘The Little Warbler. Scotch Songs’ is the title of a chap-book of about 1820. There may have been other books with the same title; the British Museum
has three collections of songs called ‘The Warbler’, 1760 (?), 1772, and 1840 (?).
David
On 22/10/2016 9:56 AM, Geoffrey Dabb wrote:
Yes, I would think so, Alan …
From: Alan Cowan [m("gmail.com","alancowan29");">]
Sent: Saturday, 22 October 2016 9:42 AM
To: canberrabirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] White-Throated Gerygone
A White- Throated Gerygone in my garden at Yarralumla today. I have to stop calling them Warblers.
