sea-pigeon n OED ~ 1 (Nfld: 1620-) for sense 1; cp 1870 quot for sense 2.
1 Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle atlantis);
PIGEON.
[1620] 1887 MASON 151 The sea fowles, are ... Sea Pigeons, Ice Birds, Bottle noses... [1766] 1971 BANKS 119 A number of Birds are about the ship which the seamen call Penguins [auks] Gulls Shearwaters one species of them with sharpe tails ... Puffins & Sea Pigeons. [1794] 1968 THOMAS 87 They were the size of a Blackbird, the shape of a Pigeon, had white under their Wings, their Tails tipt with white, red Feet, and other parts of the Back. They are call'd Sea Pigeons and are very numerous. 1842 JUKES ii, 185 Eider ducks, sheldrakes, cormorants called 'shags,' puffins, a kind of auk called 'sea pigeon,' and several species of petrel, with many other birds, abound. 1861 Harper's xxii, 746 The day following they ran down to a small island tenanted by sea-pigeons. 1891 PACKARD 90 People here call the guillemots sea-pigeons, though more like crows than pigeons in size and color. 1964 Evening Telegram 22 Jan, p. 5 Guillemots (sea pigeons) are much bigger than pigeons, and respectable pot birds. Black, with very large white wing patches, they have no colors in the plumage, but seem more colorful than most sea birds because of the bright red feet and scarlet lining to the mouth and beak.
2 Ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea); ICE-PARTRIDGE.
[cl830] 1890 GOSSE 64 One day a fisherman brought him a pretty bird, of dense, soft, spotless white plumage, calling it a sea-pigeon. It was a kittiwake gull.
