Local name for birds having white (or partly white) wings. a. The chaffinch. b. U.S. The white-winged scoter or surf-duck, Œdemia fusca deglandi. c. Whitewing dove, a dove of the genus Melopelia.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., White-wing, the chaffinch.
1884. Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2), 569. Melopelia leucoptera. White-wing Dove.
1901. Shooting Times, 22 June, 21/2. In Ireland, the chaffinch is commonly called the ‘whitewing,’ owing … to the white patches … conspicuous on the wings of the male bird when in flight.
