- of, belonging, or pertaining to the order Passeriformes, comprising more than half of all birds and typically having the feet adapted for perching.
1776, from L. passerinus "of a sparrow," from passer "sparrow," possibly of imitative origin. The noun is 1842, from the adj.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/passerine)
Read more about Passeriformes here: http://www.nhptv.org/wild/Passeriformes.asp
"Later in the morning, a pair of songbirds that evidently had blown in on the storm circled the ship and landed on the deck. They were probably from Brazil, two beautiful passerine birds of a species no one aboard recognized."
- Hampton Sides, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
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