Doves andpigeons constitute the bird familyColumbidae, which includes about 310species. Pigeons are stout-bodied birds with short necks, and short, slender bills (and in some species, these bills feature fleshyceres.) They primarily feed onseeds,fruits, and plants. This family occurs worldwide, but the greatest variety is in theIndomalaya andAustralasia ecozones.

In general, the terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably.Pigeon is a French word that derives from the Latinpipio, for a "peeping" chick, whiledove is aGermanic word that refers to the bird's diving flight. In ornithological practice, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and historically, thecommon names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms. The species most commonly referred to as "pigeon" is therock dove, one subspecies of which, thedomestic pigeon, is common in many cities as theferal pigeon.

• The Dove,
  On silver pinions, winged her peaceful way.
  • James Montgomery,Pelican Island (1827), Canto I, line 173.

• Not half so swift the trembling doves can fly,
  When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid sky;
  Not half so swiftly the fierce eagle moves,
  When thro' the clouds he drives the trembling doves.
  • Alexander Pope,Windsor Forest (1713), line 185.

• Anon, as patient as the female dove,
  When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
  His silence will sit drooping.
  • William Shakespeare,Hamlet (1600-02), Act V, scene 1, line 309.

• The dove and very blessed spirit of peace.
  • William Shakespeare,Henry IV, Part II (c. 1597-99), Act IV, scene 1, line 46.

• So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows.
  • William Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet (1597), Act I, scene 5, line 50.

Quotes reported inHoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 201.

• And there my little doves did sit
  With feathers softly brown
  And glittering eyes that showed their right
  To general Nature's deep delight.
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning,My Doves.

• The thrustelcok made eek hir lay,
  The wode dove upon the spray
  She sang ful loude and cleere.
  • Geoffrey Chaucer,The Rime of Sir Thopas.

• As when the dove returning bore the mark
  Of earth restored to the long labouring ark;
  The relics of mankind, secure at rest,
  Oped every window to receive the guest,
  And the fair bearer of the message bless'd.
  • John Dryden,To Her Grace of Ormond, line 70.

• Listen, sweet Dove, unto my song,
  And spread thy golden wings in me;
  Hatching my tender heart so long,
  Till it get wing, and flie away with Thee.
  • George Herbert,The Church,Whitsunday.

• We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves.
  • Isaiah. LIX. 11.

• See how that pair of billing doves
  
  With open murmurs own their loves
  And, heedless of censorious eyes,
  Pursue their unpolluted joys:
  No fears of future want molest
  The downy quiet of their nest.
  • LadyMary Wortley Montagu,Verses,Written in a Garden, Stanza 1.

• Ut solet accipiter trepidas agitare columbas.
  • As the hawk is wont to pursue the trembling doves.
  • Ovid,Metamorphoses, V, 606.

• Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
  • Psalms. LV. 6.

• And oft I heard the tender dove
  In firry woodlands making moan.
  • Alfred Tennyson,Miller's Daughter.

• I heard a Stock-dove sing or say
  His homely tale, this very day;
  His voice was buried among trees,
  Yet to be come at by the breeze:
  He did not cease; but cooed—and cooed;
  And somewhat pensively he wooed:
  He sang of love, with quiet blending,
  Slow to begin, and never ending;
  Of serious faith, and inward glee;
  That was the song,—the song for me!
  • William Wordsworth,O Nightingale! Thou Surely Art.

• Since balloons could not be flown back into Paris due to their erratic and uncontrollable flight patterns, the only means of getting information... was the carrier pigeon. Pigeons had been used to convey messages since antiquity, and a pigeon post... operated as late as 1850 byPaul Julius Reuter... proved... swifter than the railway in carrying stock prices between Brussels andAachen. The carrier pigeons used in theSiege of Paris were able to carry much more information thanks to...microphotography invented byRené Dagron. In 1859 Dragon had received a patent for microfilm, and over the next decade he produced... photographs shrunk to fit inside jewels,signet rings [etc.]... He also developed... a profitable sideline in pornography... enjoyed with the aid of aspecial magnifying viewer. During the siege, Dagron turned.. to more patriotic endeavors. ...photographing government dispatches, shrinking them.., printing them on lightweightcollodion membranes.., and fitting as many as 40,000... into a canister strapped to the legs of a single carrier pigeon. The pigeons... encountering on their return to Paris... falcons specially trained by the Prussians. ...[T]he pigeons also carried personal communications.
  • Ross King,The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism (2006) pp. 286-287.

• Wood-pigeons cooed there, stock-doves nestled there;
  My trees were full of songs and flowers and fruit,
  Their branches spread a city to the air.
  • Christina G. Rossetti,From House to Home, inGoblin Market and Other Poems (1862), Stanza 7.

• With his mouth full of news
  Which he will put on us, as pigeons feed their young.
  • William Shakespeare,As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act I, scene 2, line 98.

• Thou pigeon-egg of discretion.
  • William Shakespeare,Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1595-6), Act V, scene 1, line 75.

• This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons pease.
  • William Shakespeare,Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1595-6), Act V, scene 2, line 315.

• The wood pigeon's voice is theglory of thegarden.
  • Sumerian proverb,Collection II atThe Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature,3rd millennium BC.

• 'Tis a bird I love, with its brooding note,
  And the trembling throb in its mottled throat;
  There's a human look in its swelling breast,
  And the gentle curve of its lowly crest;
  And I often stop with the fear I feel—
  He runs so close to the rapid wheel.
  • Nathaniel Parker Willis,The Belfry Pigeon; reported inHoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 597.

• When you prepare yourbreakfast, think upon others
  Do not forget to feed thepigeons.
  • Mahmoud Darwish,Think upon othersedinburgharabicinitiative.wordpress.com,aldiwan.net (Arabic)

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Columbidae

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