I might have alluded to it, but I didn't.

I might have explained, if I'd thought of it at the time--in fact, I will explain to you now.

The dove is of all birds the most peaceful and the least inclined to quarrel with other birds.

You'd know that by the soothing way it coos, and also by the colour of its breast.

Tennyson, the poet, notes the fact that the peculiar bluey shade of its feathers arouses feelings of affection in people who weren't thinking of anything of the sort before they saw it.