Stock"dove` (?), n. (Zoöl.)
A common European wild pigeon (Columba ænas), so
called because at one time believed to be the stock of the domestic
pigeon, or, according to some, from its breeding in the stocks, or
trunks, of trees.
☞ The name is applied, also, to other related species, as the
Indian stockdove (Palumbæna Eversmanni).