Pigeon

Pigeon

Pigeons are flying birds and form the typical example of class Aves of phylum Chordata. The scientific name is Columba livia belonging to order Columbiformes. The domesticated pigeons are breeds of wild forms which avoid forests and like to live on rocky hills, hill forts, and old wells and in broken buildings. Every town has its own pigeon population living in different buildings of a bazaar, factory sheds, mosques, railway stations and goods-yards. Domesticated pigeons are generally kept in cages or in wooden boxes with doors and windows.

Pigeons are good fliers and fly in circles in a group. They are very active birds and are easily frightened by a sound or at the approach of other larger birds. They generally make a nest of slender twigs and straw in wells and inside houses and buildings. They make humming sound and fly in flocks. They feed on cereals, pulses and ground nuts. So, they are called grain-eaters. They make the railway stations, goods yards or places where they live filthy by their excreta. They generally return during night where they live. These are monogamous birds and a pair lives together throughout life. The male generally makes a characteristic sound like gootr-goo, gootr-goo. The female lays two bluish-white eggs in the nest. The eggs are incubated (sitting on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch) by both male and female alternately. After about 17 days featherless, blind nestlings are hatched and the parents feed them on special milk secreted by the crop. The young ones become independent almost after a month.

Pigeon is quite familiar to us and is smaller than crow and slaty grey in colour. The spindle-shaped body can be divided into three parts:

1. Head,

2. Neck, and

3. Trunk.

The entire body is covered with backwardly directed feathers which are derivatives of the integument. The small round head has a wide opening at the anterior end. This is the mouth which is bounded by the upper and lower beaks covered with horny sheath. The beaks are hard and pointed which are suitable for grain-eating birds. At the base of the upper beak is a pair of swollen areas called cere. Anterior to cere a pair of small slits represents the nostrils (external nasal aperture). There are no teeth in the mouth. On either side of the head is a prominent eye having upper and lower eyelids and a transparent nictitating membrane over the eyeball. This protects the eye from strong wind, dust and sand particles. Posterior to each eye is the external ear opening covered with special feathers. The neck connects the head with trunk. It is long and flexible and hence it can move in any direction. After removing the feathers the different parts of the compact trunk can be seen.

Feathers are integumentary structures characteristic of birds. Strong, light, elastic and water-proof feathers are the modifications of the epidermis. Feathers are arranged in the skin in definite feather tracts or pterylae and the interspaces without feathers are known as apterae. Three types of feathers are found in a pigeon:

1. Contour Feather,

2. Filoplumes, and

3. Down Feathers.

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