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[Birds] Taxonomy Index Taxonomy Index

Pigeon

  Figures   1: Brehm, Alfred Edmund (1867);
 
Description Source Text

Pigeons are altricial, chickens are precocial. That is, the former are born helpless, featherless and blind; the latter come to life as complete beings, with feathers and fully functional.

They are agile, spirited, active, astute, and fairly intelligent animals, distinguishing themselves from all other birds and particularly from chickens by their more attractive appearance. They walk well and arduously, although not really fast, and at every step they nod their heads because their legs are too short.

Most pigeons coo: they emit discontinued, hollow, low-pitched sounds, in which the syllable “oo” predominates, while others tweet or utter gently vibrating tones that resemble the sound made when one pronounces this verb. Some varieties howl, others chuckle, some make extremely powerful, complex, orotund sounds, still others growl abominably.

They occur worldwide in every zone, at high altitudes as well as at low altitudes, but they preferably live in the woods; only few exceptions colonise rock faces destitute of plants.

During mating season, the male pigeons avidly seek to win the female’s attention: they coo, tweet, hum, chuckle, howl, make curious movements, stooping, bowing, spinning, running back and forth, they soar making splashy sounds and then glide smoothly back, they bill and caress the female with their beaks, they also pick here and there lice from her – more with the intention to eat them, than to clean their mate – and demonstrate their great excitement with the help of every sign and gesture.
  Source: Brehm, Alfred Edmund. 1867. Illustrirtes Thierleben: eine allgemeine Kunde des Thierreichs. Vierter Band. Zweite Abtheilung: Die Vögel. Zweite Hälfte: Späher, Läufer und Schwimmer. view the source
  Related Documents    
  Sites   Department of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University (1925)
Physiological Institute, University of Strasbourg (1891)
Physiological Institute, University of Heidelberg (1858)
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Manitoba (1928)
  Instruments  
  Experiments  
  Further Reading:   - Czermak, Johann N. 1879. Notiz über eine neue Folgeerscheinung nach Durchschneidung der Semicircularcanäle bei Vögeln (Tauben). In: Gesammelte Schriften, Erster Band, II. Abtheilung, Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, 776-778. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann
- Lukjanow, S. M. 1889. Ueber den Gehalt der Organe und Gewebe an Wasser und festen Bestandtheilen bei hungernden und durstenden Tauben im Vergleich mit dem bezüglichen Gehalt bei normalen Tauben. Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie 13: 339-351
- Schneider, G. H. 1906. Die Orientierung der Brieftauben. Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane 40: 252-279
- Schwantke, Arthur. 1900. Ueber Krystalle aus Taubenblut. Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie 29: 486-491
- Wundt, Wilhelm. 1894. Akustische Versuche an einer labyrinthlosen Taube. Philosophische Studien 9: 496-509
 
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ISSN 1866-4784: reference - xlink