| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
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The soul or spirit was often supposed in olden times to assume a zoömorphic form, and to make its way at death through the mouth of man in a visible form, sometimes as a pigeon, sometimes as a mouse or rat. A red mouse indicated a pure soul; a black mouse, a soul blackened by pollution; a pigeon or dove, a saintly soul. | 1 |
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Exorcists used to drive out evil spirits from the human body, and Harsnet gives several instances of such expulsions in his Popular Impositions (1604). | 2 |
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 No doubt pigeons were at one time trained to represent the departing soul, and also to represent the Holy Ghost. |
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