69 DOMESTIC VARIETIES. 



pressed here and elsewhere. I have already instanced the 

 great differences existing in various races of canary birds 

 from what we know was their progenitor, and as we can fix 

 the time that it has taken to accomplish such results with 

 comparative accuracy, the "thousands of years" supposed 

 necessary by Neumeister for the perfecting of "race" pigeons 

 may be somewhat modified, though I have no doubt that 

 some of our varieties may have existed for some hundreds of 

 centuries, when we remember what Pliny says about pedigree 

 pigeons among the Romans. 



