DOMESTICATED BIRDS 



175 



this process of selection naturally and somewhat frequently 

 takes place. In certain cases it may lay the foundation of 

 new species, or at least of distinct varieties ; more commonly, 

 however, the individuals which have abandoned the migratory 

 life are likely to perish from the severity of climate or the 

 other unfavorable conditions that their mates avoid by their 

 wanderings. 



The Original Wild Rock Dove (Coluntba livia) and Some of its Domestic Descendants 



Although many of the free-flying birds of the land are or 

 have been kept captive because of the pleasure which men 

 have found from their songs, their grace, or their quaint ways, 

 only one of these has really been gained to domestication. 

 In the pigeon, man has made what is on many accounts the 

 most remarkable of all his conquests over the wild nature 

 about him. While the breeder's art has led many forms, 

 some of them on several divergent lines, far away from their 

 primitive estate, in no other field has it accomplished such 



