Uh ... Webster's is wrong. I have never in my life heard a pigeon chirp
... of course, I am thinking of what we in America refer to as a pigeon,
which is in reality a Rock Dove (no kidding!). What gets called a pigeon
elsewhere in the world may well be a chirping bird. But Rock Doves DO
NOT chirp. They coo. House Sparrows (America's most common sparrow,
albeit introduced from Europe to make Central Park more like the
ancestral homeland of somebody or other--male has a black throat) emit a
prototypical chirp.

Are we still in the realm of grammar? this is fun, but I don't want to
annoy people.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •  Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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