pigeon milk

noun

1. crop milk.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pigeon milk¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Baby pigeons drink "pigeon milk" that the baby sucks out of the back of the parents' throats.

From Salon

Eggs, laid by the two, are incubated for 16 to 19 days and fed by “pigeon milk,” a protein-rich fluid produced in both parents’ crops — which we imagine has something of an Orville Redenbacher’s aftertaste.

From Seattle Times

The chicks are born helpless, covered with yellowish-brown fuzz; nourishment comes from a white substance called “pigeon milk,” which their parents regurgitate into their mouths.

From New York Times

How to milk a pigeon Milk is produced by mammals in order to provide nutrition to their growing young.

From Scientific American

Milk fed chickens had a much greater expression of the immunoglobulin IgA than the non milk fed, as shown in the graph below: Differences in IgA expresion in the pigeon milk chickens "PM-fed" and the control group.

From Scientific American