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The term ’birdie’ originated in the United States in 1899. H.B. Martin’s Fifty Years of American Golf contains an account of a foursomes match played at the Atlantic City (N.J.) CC. One of the players, Ab Smith relates, "My ball... came to rest within six inches of the cup. I said ’That was a bird of a shot... I suggest that when one of us plays a hole in one under par he receives double compensation.’ The other two agreed and we began right away, just as soon as the next one came, to call it a ’birdie." In 19th-century American slang, ’bird’ referred to anyone or anything excellent or wonderful.

By analogy with ’birdie,’ the term ’eagle’ soon thereafter became common to refer to a score one better than a ’bird.’ Also by analogy, the term ’albatross’ stands for double eagle—an even bigger eagle!