DOVE
878
DOVE-COT
zii, 6 ; Luke ii, 24) ; and, to snpplj the demand for them, dealers in these birds sat about the precincts of the Temple (Matt, xxi, 12, etc.)* The brown wood- dove is said to be intended by the Hebrew name ; but all the sacred birds, unless expressly mentioned, were pure white, or with some roseate feathers about the wing coverts, such as are still frequently bred from the carrier-pigeon of Scandiroon. It is this kind which TibuUus notices (i, 7). The cairier-birds are represented in Egyptian bas-reliefs, where priests are shown letting them fly on a message. All pigeons in their true wild plumage have iridescent colors about the neck, and often reflected flashes of the same colors on the shoulders, wliich are the source of the silver and gold feathers ascribed to them in poetical diction ; and thence the epithet of purple bestowed upon them all, though most applicable to the vinous and slaty- colored species. This beauty of plumage is alluded to in Psa. Ixviii, 19, where the design of the Psalmist is to present, in contrast, the condition of the Hebrews at two different periods of their history : in the day of their affliction and calamity they were covered as it were with shame and confusion, but in the day of their prosperity they should resemble the cleanest and most beautiful of birds. The dove was the harbinger of reconciliation with God (Gren. viii, 8, 10, etc.), when Noah sent one from the ark to ascertain if the waters of the Deluge had assuaged. The association of the dove and the olive is not only natural, but highly em- blematical (Thomson, Lamd and Book, i, 69). The dove is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as the em- blem of purity and innocence, and so it doubtless was viewed by the Psalmist (PBa. Iv, ^S), although with a special allusion to the swiftness of that bird's flight (comp. Sophocl. (Ed. Col. 1081 ; Eurip. Bacch. 1090). By an almost anthropomorphic extension of this idea, the dove is, figuratively, next to man, the most exalt- ed of animals, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, a senti- ment that appears to be couched in the description of creation (Gren. i, 2), where the Spbrit is represented as brooding (*' moved") over the surface of chaos. (See treatises on this point by Augusti, Die Taube, in Giese- ler and Liicke's Zeitschr, iii, 56-64; Holler, De cohimbaj Frib. 1721 ; Schmid, De cdumbis, Helmst. 1711, 1781 ; 3chwebel, De colutnharum caftu, Onold. 1767 ; E. F. Wernsdorf, De timulacro co/umiee, Viteb. 1778 ; Id. De columba tancta Syrorum^ Helmst. 1761 ; J. G. Werns- dorf, De columba^ Helmst. 1770 ; Ziebich, De columba pentecostaliyYiteh. 1737.) The Holy Spirit descended, as a dove descends, upon our Saviour at Ills baptism — visibly with that peculiar hovering motion which distin- guishes the descent of a dove (Matt, iii, 16 ; Mark i, 10; Luke iii, 22 ; John i, 82). (See the treatises on this in- cident, in Latin, by Adler [Sorav. 1822],B6hmer [Jen. 1727], Christ [Jen. 1727], Riess [Marb. 1786], Kech- enberg [Cob. 1741], Varemus [Kil. 1671 ; Vlteb. 1718, 1728], Ziebich [Ger. 1772] ; in German by Schulthess [in Winer's KrU. Jour, iv, 257-294].) The dove is also a noted symbol of tender and devoted affection, espe- cially in the Canticles (i, 15 ; ii, 14, etc.). The conju- gal fidelity of the dove has been celebrated by every writer who has described or alluded to her character (Cant i, 15). She admits but of one mate, and never forsakes him until death puts an end to their union. The black pigeon, when her mate dies, obstinately re- jects another, and continues In a widowed state for Ufe. Hence among the Egyptians a black pigeon was the symbol of a widow who declined to enter again into the marriage relation. These facts have been transferred, by later authors, to the widowed turtle, which, deaf to the solicitations of another mate, con- tinues, in mournful strains, to deplore her loss until death puts a period to her sorrows. (On the emble- matical uses of the dove, see Airther Wemj'ss, Symbol. Diet. s. V.) The cooing of the dove, when solitary, is often alluded to in Scripture (Isa. xxxvili, 14 ; lix, 11 ; Kah. ii, 7). Comp. Pigeon.
In Christian art, the dove is enqiloyed at At blem of the Holy Ghost, fbllowini? the fitoiri tation, which is doubtleM the true one, oClfaiLU After images and pictures began to he churches, the Holy Ghoet was reprowted lyftt^' gies of a silver dove hovering OTer the athiva baptistery had the same. The plaee oror He where it was sospended was caUed pmik lii^ Ttpurrepa, a dove (Bingfaaniy Oriff. £eefaa.tLiil4 vi,§19). .
*' From the dove being a symbol of pDri|f;lpi^ erally represented white, wil^ its beal ' * ^^^ ' as they occur in nature. In the older en nimbus surrounds its head,tbe _
quently divided by a cross, either red wr HalL fc stained-glass windows we see the dove wife tnm rays proceeding from it, terminating in sewn mc significative of the seven gifts of the Holy S^ Holding an olive-branch, the dove is an imHiii i peace. When seen issuing firom the lips el ^ric; saints and martyrs, it represents the hmum loal pcv fied by suffering. A dove with six wings is a tvp d the Church of Christ; and when so cmpkfed. c hs the breast and belly of silver, and the back of pac two wings being attached to the head, two t:^ ^ shoulders, and two to the feet. The pyx or hex ff containing the Host (q. v.) in Boman CathrJk efecrcfae is sometimes made in the form of a dove, and