30 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



demonstrated cinnamon feathers in Canaries 

 to be inherited irt)m the male side. We 

 may safely assume that the buff varieties 

 of jioultry correspond witli the cinnamon 

 varieties of the Canary ; tliat both are due 

 to an original early cinnamon sjiort ; and 

 that this spoi-t or mutation is. in all pro- 

 bability, the cause of the great diversity 

 of all the varieties of the species. 



In the case of the Pigeon also evidence 



is adducible whicli proves that the first 



change from the Blue Rock 



Early I'iireon (Columba livia) was 



»!. '^n^ ' " one in the direction of 

 the Pjgeon. 



albinism. 



In " The Dovecot and Aviary " (Rev. 

 E. S. Dixon, 1851), the author gives a pas- 

 sage in full from Varro, who lived from 

 116-27 B.C. He translates it thus : — 



" If ever you should establish a Dovery, 

 you would consider the birds your own, 

 although they were wild. For two sorts 

 of Pigeons ai'e usually kept in a Dovery : 

 the one belonging to rural districts, and, 

 as others call it, a Rock Pigeon, which is 

 kept in towers, and among the beams and 



is of a idiile colour principally, but the 

 country sort is without white or variegated 

 colours. From these two original stocks 

 a third mixed or mongrel kind is bred for 

 the sake of the produce."' 



SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 



All Canary varieties have arisen from 

 a grey or cinnamon sport occurring in the 

 female — the pallid type of variation which 

 occurs at present among many wild birds. 



This theory is advanced from a study of : 



1. Wild sports generally, in nature and 

 in confinement. 



2. Cinnamon and cinnamon-bred hybrids, 

 which frequently show characteristics of 

 Canary varieties arising de novo. 



4. The earliest Canary literature. 



5. Collateral evidence of a similar nature 

 in poultry and Pigeons. 



" Dark-eye " and " pink-eye " are 

 found to behave generally in ]\Iendelian 

 fashion, for from Group IV. 

 (d.e. X d.e.), page 17, it 

 is evident that there is a 

 homozygous ty]>e of dark-eyed 

 Canary. Also from (mou]^ IV., 2, 3, 4, it 



Inheritance 

 of Eye 

 Colour. 



rafters {colitininibiis) of a farndiouse, and aj>pears that there is also a heterozygous* 



which is on that accoimt named ' Columba,' or imjjure form occurring in the male as 



since from natural timidity it seeks the well as the female. 



highest of roofs ; wlience it hajipens that The jiink-eycd birds being homozygous,* 



the rustic Pigeons especially seek for if we arrange our groups of matings 



towers, to which they may at their own according to Mendelian principles, we find : 



pleasure fly from the fields, and return Group III. d.e. X p.e. Matings, 33. 



thither. The second kind of Pigeons is 

 more ([uiet ; and contented with the food 

 given at home, it accustoms itself to feed 

 within the limits of the gate. This kind 



IV. 



Progeny, 110. Dark-eyed, 110. 



In this group dark-eyed is dominant and 

 pink-eyed recessive. 



The following heterozygous matings: — 



d.e. 



III. 



43 



The result closely a])]iroximates to : 



The following iietcrozygous ■: homozygous matings 



2 !•' d.e. X j).c. 



3 d.e. F X ]i.c. 



4 F d.e. X F p.e. 



5 d.e. F X F p.e. 



Matings, 1 Progeny, 3 d.e., 1 p.e., 2 



3 „ 12 „ 4 „ .-> 



1 „ 2 „ „ 2 



23 10 10 



■ For explanaliou of these term.s see pp. 31-2. 



I'nknown, 3. 



