These topics and questions should be answered from experience with pigeons and observations of their habits and behavior, and from books to be obtained from the school and public libraries.
- The homing instinct of the common blue pigeon and of carrier pigeons.
- Nesting habits, number of broods and number of young in each brood, feeding the young. Why is this method of feeding the young necessary?
- Varieties or breeds of pigeons. How the various varieties were produced; how they are kept true; reversions of type.
- Darwin's experiments with the pigeons; object of the experiment. Whitman's experiments.
The Exoskeleton of the Bird: Plumage
Materials.
Living birds, as perhaps pigeons, or mounted or stuffed skins, separate feathers, portions of feathers, microscopes.
Observations.
The pupils should study the arrangement of the feathers and their variations in form and size, and should identify the following principal kinds:—
Contour feathers, those feathers, generally broad, which cover the body, giving to it its outline and color. Coverts, those feathers which cover joints, such as the joints of the wing and tail. Primaries or pinions, the long stiff feathers of the outside of the wing, used in sustaining the bird in flight. Secondaries, the shorter, more symmetrical feathers lying next and over the primaries. Down, soft feathers found on young birds and next to the skin on some adults. Thread feathers, best seen about the eyes, ears, and beak. Quill, the bare stiff portion, one end of which is inserted in the skin. Examine its internal structure. Vane, the broad expanded portion, the part ordinarily seen on the bird. Shaft, the mid-rib of the vane. Barbs, the delicate outgrowths of the shaft making up the vane. Barbules, the subdivisions of the barbs, some of which are provided with hooklets. These may well be studied microscopically.