prairie pigeonn.
/ˈprɛːrɪ ˌpɪdʒ(ᵻ)n/, U.S. /ˈprɛri ˌpɪdʒ(ə)n/ U.S.
Any of various birds that occur on the prairies in large flocks which resemble those of pigeons, esp. the extinct passenger pigeon; spec. (a) the upland sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda; (b) the American golden plover, Pluvialis dominica; (c) Franklin's gull, Larus pipixcan; cf. prairie dove n. at prairie n. Compounds 2; (d) now historical the Eskimo curlew, Numenius borealis.
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Scolopacidae (snipes, etc.) > [noun] > bartramia longicauda (Bartram's sandpiper)
highland plover1839
prairie plover1851
prairie snipe1851
prairie pigeon1874
the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > [noun] > family Charadriidae > genus Pluvialis > pluvialis dominica (American golden plover)
green plover1550
whistling plover1668
golden plover1766
frost bird1803
greenback1843
prairie plover1851
prairie snipe1851
prairie pigeon1874
kolea1888
squealer1888
1874 E. Coues Birds Northwest 503 In most parts of the West, between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, this Tattler, commonly known as the ‘Prairie Pigeon’, is exceedingly abundant.
1881 Forest & Stream 17 225 The firsty bird we have named above [sc. the golden plover] was not known in the West..as a plover at all, but as a ‘prairie pigeon’.
1902 Everybody's Mag. 6 496 Among all birds I do not know of a more beautiful species than the Franklin's Rosy Gull... The settler's call them ‘Prairie Pigeons’.
1917 Birds of Amer. I. 254 Eskimo Curlew... [Also called] Prairie Pigeon.
1925 H. Quick One Man's Life 18, in R. Lord Wallaces of Iowa (1947) 80 I have seen the golden plover, or prairie pigeon, running over the new-turned prairie in such numbers that the earth seemed to be moving.
1937 National Geographic Mag. Aug. 200/1 The Eskimo curlew, or ‘dough bird’ or ‘prairie pigeon’, as it was called by the gunners, apparently rivaled the passenger pigeon in numbers prior to 1885.
1951 Amer. Speech 26 268 In Texas, conspicuous flights of Franklin's gulls are so associated with rain that these ‘prairie pigeons’ are known as wet-weather birds.
1961 J. S. Ligon New Mexico Birds 117 It [sc. the upland plover] was formerly known, also, as Tattler, or Prairie Pigeon.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1874