Mechanical singing-bird boxes (Topical Term)

Work cat.: Mayson, G.T. Mechanical singing-bird tabatières, 2000: jkt. (began life in the 1780s as a rich nobleman's toy and later became an affordable commercial article, consists of a rectangular box made of base metal, precious metal or tortoiseshell with an oval decorated lid. When the lid is lifted a miniature mechanical bird stands upright and produces an unbroken stream of birdsong. At the end of its performance the bird falls back into the box and the lid closes.) p. 13 ('tabatière', meaning 'snuffbox', has come to be used for any small decorative box resembling a snuffbox in form but not necessarily any longer used to contain snuff. Here, it distinguished the small singing-bird box from the larger cage-bird automata.)

Ord-Hume, A.W.J.G. Music box, 1980: p. 249 (Mechanical singing bird)

A collector's guide to antiques, 1997; Penguin dict. of decorative arts