Dove

The biblical "dove" is almost always Columba livia, the rock dove, ancestor of the city pigeon. It nests in cliff crevices and abandoned cisterns and was the easiest bird for a poor household to raise: village dovecotes — round mud-brick towers honeycombed with hundreds of nesting holes — produced eggs, squabs, and a steady stream of birds for sacrifice. The law allowed a pair of doves to substitute for a more expensive lamb (Lev.5), which is the offering Mary brings for the dedication of Jesus (Luk.2.24) — a small but telling sign of his family's poverty. The first dove in scripture is Noah's, sent out three times from the ark, returning with an olive leaf as the proof that the waters had abated (Gen.8). The most famous dove descends on Jesus at his baptism (Mat.3.16), when "the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him" — an image that has shaped Christian iconography of the Holy Spirit ever since.