164 DOVE 
several of them would as undoubtedly have been placed in different 
genera. These various breeds are classified by Mr. Darwin! in four 
groups as follows :— 
Group I. composed of a single Race, that of the “ Pouters,” 
having the gullet of great size, barely separated from the crop, and 
often inflated, the body and legs elongated, and a moderate bill. 
The most strongly marked subrace, the Jimproved English Pouter, is 
considered to be the most distinct of all domesticated pigeons. 
Group II. includes three Races :—(1) “Carriers,” with a long 
pointed bill, the eyes surrounded by much bare skin, and the neck 
and body much elongated ; (2) “‘Runts,” with a long massive bill, 
and the body of great size; and (3) “Barbs,” with a short broad 
bill, much bare skin round the eyes, and the skin over the nostrils 
swollen. Of the first four and of the second five subraces are 
distinguished. 
Group III. is confessedly artificial, and to it are assigned five 
Races :—(1) “ Fan-tails,” remarkable for the extraordinary develop- 
ment of their tails, which may consist of as many as forty-two 
rectrices in place of the ordinary twelve; (2) “Turbits” and 
“Owls,” with the feathers of the throat diverging, anda short thick 
bill; (3) “Tumblers,” possessing the marvellous habit of tumbling 
backwards during flight or, in some breeds, even on the ground, and 
having a short, conical bill; (4) “ Frill-backs,” in which the 
feathers are reversed; and (5) “Jacobins,” with the feathers of 
the neck forming a hood, and the wings and tail long. 
Group IV. greatly resembles the normal form, and comprises 
two Races :—(1) ‘‘Trumpeters,” with a tuft of feathers at the base 
of the neck curling forward, the face much feathered, and a very 
peculiar voice ; and (2) Pigeons scarcely differing in structure from 
the wild stock. 
Beside these, some three or four other little-known breeds exist, 
and the whole number of breeds and sub-breeds almost defies com- 
putation. The difference between them is in many cases far from 
being superficial, for Mr. Darwin has shewn that there is scarcely 
any part of the skeleton which is constant, and the modifications 
that have been effected in the proportions of the head and sternal 
apparatus are very remarkable. Yet the proof that all these 
different birds have descended from one common stock is nearly 
certain. Here there is no need to point out its bearing upon the 
doctrine of “ Natural Selection” which that eminent naturalist and 
Mr. Wallace have rendered so well known. The antiquity of some 
of these breeds is not the least interesting part of the subject, nor 
is the use to which one at least of them has long been applied. 
The Dove from the earliest period in history has been associated 
1 The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. London: 1868. 
Vol. i. pp. 131-224. 
