nightfowl
noun/ˈnaɪt.faʊl/
Etymology From night + fowl.
1
Any of various birds active during the nighttime or associated with night; a nocturnal bird.
- Upon the middle of the night, Waking she heard the nightfowl crow: The cock sung out an hour ere light1830, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Mariana:
- Now this wilderness was so utterly waste that not even the barking of a dog or the sound of a nightfowl could be heard.1899, Rudyard Kipling, Letters of Marque, page 63:
2 more examples
- He could see the ghostly outline of the distant peaks of the mountains, he could hear the haunting cries of nightfowl and coyote; but these things failed to interest him.1903, Ridgwell Cullum, The Devil's Keg: The Story of the Foss River Ranch, page 171:
- An eagle? No, that could scarcely be; eagles were not nightfowl, nor would one descend this close to humans.1980, Poul Anderson, Conan the Rebel, page 165: