Definition of "birdlike"

Once or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet of the dog going hither and thither on the sand far below me, and there were more bird-like sounds, but that was all.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 237

Frail, birdlike wrists and no muscle anywhere on his tiny frame.

2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 82