stock dove

[ duhv ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

stock dove

a European dove, Columba oenas, smaller than the wood pigeon and having a uniformly grey plumage

1300–50; Middle English stokdove; compare German Stocktaube; so called because it nests in hollow tree trunks

C14: so called because it lives in tree trunks. See stock

The stock-dove, one of our pretty wild pigeons, nests in colonies in rabbit-burrows, as does the brown owl.

Mrs. Wordsworth, in all her enthusiasm for Wordsworth's beautiful address to the stock-dove, took the old woman to her heart.

Inside the sticks were the feathers and part of the skeleton of a stock-dove.

Among the feathered tribes they mention the “thrush and stock-dove.”

Among the feathered tribes they mention the "thrush and stock-dove."

April 25, 2024firkin

[fur-kin ]

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