I’m going to stick my neck out — Why did Dana get two “dislikes” for her correct answer? If you want the opinion of an educated native speaker, she just gave it to you. If you want the opinion of a dictionary, there are plenty of excellent options a couple of mouse-clicks away. Birds of the columbidae are known as “doves” or “pigeons”, but there isn’t really a difference. In fact, a dove is nothing more than a white pigeon. As far as common names usually go, pigeons are species (or, to the layman, simply individual examples) of columbidae that are big and undesirable, while doves are smaller, whiter, and said to represent peace. The story of Noah features a "dove" that returned with a twig, thus announcing the end of the flood. “Dove” is the usual English translation, but the Hebrew makes no such distinction. European languages other than English also tend not to make such a distinction. English got “dove” from Old English, and “pigeon” from Norman French. The fact that the French version is less desirable is admittedly, unusual.