DOMESTICATED BIRDS 



177 



months after they come into the world. Thus the species 

 affords really ideal conditions for that process of selection on 

 which the improvement of all domesticated animals intimately 

 depends. 



Selective breeding of pigeons began in India, as the rec- 

 ords seem to show, more than two thousand years ago. 

 Though other ani- 

 mals have been 

 brought to domes- 

 tication at much 

 earlier times, this 

 appears to have 

 been the first of 

 them to be sub- 

 jected to deliberate 

 efforts on the part 

 of their masters, 

 which were in- 

 tended to bring 

 about in a method- 

 ical way certain 

 changes in their 

 forms and habits. 

 The most curious 



part of this great endeavor which has been applied to breed- 

 ing pigeons is found in the fact that the ends sought have 

 no utility, but afford satisfaction from the point of view 

 of pure diversion or the gratification of taste. We are well 

 accustomed to the action of such motives upon our flowering 

 plants of the garden, but the pigeon is the only animal where 

 fancy has labored for thousands of years for its gratification. 



Turtle Doves 



12 



