22 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



species of animals being perfectly fertile. Some authors 

 believe that long-continued domestication eliminates this 

 strong tendency to sterility in species. From the history 

 of the dog, and of some other domestic animals, this con- 

 clusion is probably quite correct, if applied to species 

 closely related to each other. But to extend it so far as to 

 suppose that species, aboriginally as distinct as carriers, 

 tumblers, pouters, and fantails now are, should yield off- 

 spring perfectly fertile inter se, would be rash in the 

 extreme. 



From these several reasons, namely, the improbability 

 of man having formerly made seven or eight supposed 

 species of pigeons to breed freely under domestication — 

 these supposed species being quite unknown in a wild state, 

 and their not having become anywhere feral — these species 

 presenting certain very abnormal characters, as compared 

 with all other Columbidae, though so like the rock-pigeon 

 in most respects — the occasional reappearance of the blue 

 color and various black marks in all the breeds, both when 

 kept pure and when crossed — and lastly, the mongrel off- 

 spring being perfectly fertile — from these several reasons, 

 taken together, we may safely conclude that all our 

 domestic breeds are descended from the rock-pigeon or 

 Columba livia with its geographical sub-species. 



In favor of this view, I may add, firstly, that the wild 

 C. livia has been found capable of domestication in Europe 

 and in India ; and that it agrees in habits and in a great 

 number of points of structure with all the domestic breeds. 

 Secondly, that although an English carrier or a short- 

 faced tumbler differs immensely in certain characters from 

 the rock-pigeon, yet that by comparing the several sub- 

 breeds of these two races, more especially those brought 

 from distant countries, we can make, between them and 

 the rock-pigeon, an almost perfect series ; so we can in 

 some other cases, but not with all the breeds. Thirdly, 

 those characters which are mainly distinctive of each breed 

 are in each eminently variable, for instance, the wattle and 

 length of beak of the carrier, the shortness of that of the 

 tumbler, and the number of tail-feathers in the fan tail : 

 and the explanation of this fact will be obvious when we 

 treat of selection. Fourthly, pigeons have been watched 

 and tended with the utmost care and loved by many 

 people. They have been domesticated for thousands of 

 years in several quarters of the world ; the earliest known 



