A plover or similar bird, especially one that is easy to catch or hunt because it has become tame around human settlements.
Compound of 'dough' (soft, easily malleable) and 'bird,' referring to birds that are naive or easy to catch. Used in 19th-century hunting and ornithological contexts.
Doughbird was a hunter's term for migratory birds that had lost their natural fear of humans—it's a reminder of how our relationship with wildlife changed as humans expanded settlements into migration routes.
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