216 DOMESTIC PIGEONS : Chap. VI. 



that most of the known breeds are kept in Ceylon. In 

 China, according to Mr. Swinhoe of Amoy, and Dr. Lockhart 

 of Shangai, Carriers, Fantails, Tumblers, and other varieties 

 are reared with care, especially by the bonzes or priests. 

 The Chinese fasten a kind of whistle to the tail-feathers of 

 their pigeons, and as the flock wheels through the air they 

 produce a sweet sound. In Egypt the late Abbas Pacha was 

 a great fancier of Fantails. Many pigeons are kept at Cairo 

 and Constantinople, and these have lately been imported by 

 native merchants, as I hear from Sir W. Elliot, into Southern 

 India, and sold at high prices. 



The foregoing statements show in how many countries, 

 and during how long a period, many men have been passion- 

 ately devoted to the breeding of pigeons. Hear how an 

 enthusiastic fancier at the present day writes : " If it were 

 possible for noblemen and gentlemen to know the amazing 

 amount of solace and pleasure derived from Almond Tumblers, 

 when they begin to understand their properties, I should 

 think that scarce any nobleman or gentleman would be 

 without their aviaries of Almond Tumblers." 35 The pleasure 

 thus taken is of paramount importance, as it leads amateurs 

 carefully to note and preserve each slight deviation of 

 structure which strikes their fancy. Pigeons are often 

 closely confined during their whole lives ; they do not 

 partake of their naturally varied diet ; they have often been 

 transported from one climate to another; and all these 

 changes in their conditions of life would be likely to cause 

 variability. Pigeons have been domesticated for nearty 

 5000 years, and have been kept in many places, so that the 

 numbers reared under domestication must have been enor- 

 mous : and this is another circumstance of high importance, 

 for it obviously favours the chance of rare modifications of 

 structure occasionally appearing. Slight variations of all 

 kinds would almost certainly be observed, and, if valued, 

 would, owing to the following circumstances, be preserved 

 and propagated with unusual facility. Pigeons, differently 

 from any other domesticated animal, can easily be mated fur 



35 



J. M. Eaton, 'Treatise on the Almond Tumbler,' 1851 ; Preface, p. vi. 



