200 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS : 



Chap. VI. 



Fernandez, Norfolk Island, Ascension, probably at Madeira, on 

 the shores of Scotland, and, as is asserted, on the banks of the 

 Hudson in North America. 18 But how different is the case, 

 when we turn to the eleven chief domestic races of the pigeon, 

 which are supposed by some authors to be descended from so 

 many distinct species ! no one has ever pretended that any 

 one of these races has been found wild in any quarter of the 

 world ; yet they have been transported to all countries, and 

 some of them must have been carried back to their native 

 homes. On the view that all the races are the product of 

 variation, we can understand why they have not become feral, 

 for the great amount of modification which they have under- 

 gone shows how long and how thoroughly they have been 

 domesticated ; and this would unfit them for a wild life. 



Fourthly. — If it be assumed that the characteristic differences 

 between the various domestic races are due to descent from 

 several aboriginal species, we must conclude that man chose 

 for domestication in ancient times, either intentionally or by 

 chance, a most abnormal set of pigeons . f or that species 

 resembling such birds as Pouters, Fantails, Carriers, Barbs, 

 Short-faced Tumblers, Turbits, &c, would be in the highest 

 degree abnormal, as compared with all the existing members 

 of the great pigeon family, cannot be doubted. Thus we 

 should have to believe that man not only formerly succeeded 

 in thoroughly domesticating several highly abnormal species, 

 but that these same species have since all become extinct, or 



18 With respect to feral pigeons 

 — for Juan Fernandez, see Bertero in 

 ' Annal. des Sc. Nat.,' torn. xxi. p. 351. 

 For Norfolk Islands, see Rev. E. S. 

 Dixon in the ' Dovecote,' 1851, p. 14, 

 on the authority of Mr. Gould. For 

 Ascension I rely on MS. information 

 given me by Mr. Layard. For the 

 banks of the Hudson, see Blyth in 

 'Annals of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xx., 1857, 

 p. 511. For Scotland, set' Macgillivray, 

 ' British Birds,' vol. i. p. 275 ; also 

 Thompson's ' Nat. Hist, of Ireland, 

 Birds,' vol. ii. p. 11. For ducks, see 

 Rev. E. S. Dixon, ' Ornamental 

 Poultry,' 1847, p. 122. For the feral 

 hybrids of the common and musk- 



ducks, see Audubon's ' American Or- 

 nithology,' and Selys-Longchamp's 

 ' Hybrides dans la Famille des Ana- 

 tides.' For the goose, Isidore Geoffroy 

 St.-Hilaire, ' Hist. Nat. Gen.,' torn. iii. 

 p. 498. For guinea-fowls, see Gosse's 

 ' Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica," 

 p. 124 ; and his ' Birds of Jamaica,' 

 for fuller particulars. I saw the 

 wild guinea-fowl in Ascension. For 

 the peacock, see ' A Week at Port 

 Royal,' by a competent authority, 

 Mr. R. Hill, p. 42. For the turkey 

 I rely on oral information ; I ascer- 

 tained that they were not Curassows. 

 With respect to fowls I will give th«* 

 references in the next chapter. 



