90 DARWINISM chap. 



colour, the tail has a dark band across the end, the wings 

 have two black bands, and the outer tail-feathers are edged 

 viith. white at the base. No other wild pigeon in the world 

 has this combination of characters. Kow in every one of the 

 domestic varieties, even the most extreme, all the above 

 marks, even to the white edging of the outer tail-feathers, 

 are sometimes found perfectly ~ developed. When birds 

 belonoiniir to two distinct breeds are crossed one or more 

 times, neither of the parents being blue, or having any of the 

 above-named marks, the mongrel offspring are very apt to 

 acquire some of these characters. Mr. Darwin gives instances 

 which he observed himself. He crossed some white fantails 

 with some black barbs, and the mongrels were black, brown, 

 or mottled. He also crossed a barb with a spot, which is a 

 white bird with a red tail and red spot on the forehead, and 

 the mongrel offspring Avere dusky and mottled. On now 

 crossing these two sets of mongrels with each other, he 

 obtained a bird of a beautiful blue colour, with the barred 

 and white edged tail, and double-banded wings, so as almost 

 exactly to resemble a ^vild rock -pigeon. This bird was 

 descended in the second generation from a pure white and 

 pure black bird, both of which when unmixed breed their 

 kind remarkably true. These facts, well known to ex- 

 perienced pigeon -fanciers, together Avith the habits of the 

 birds, which all like to nest in holes, or dovecots, not in trees 

 like the great majority of wild pigeons, have led to the general 

 belief in the single origin of all the different kinds. 



In order to afford some idea of the great differences which 

 exist among domesticated pigeons, it will be well to give a 

 brief abstract of Mr. Darwin's account of them. He divides 

 them into eleven distinct races, most of which have several 

 sub-races. 



Eace I. Pouters. — These are especially distinguished by 

 the enormously enlarged crop, which can be so inflated in 

 some birds as almost to conce*al the beak. They are very long 

 in the body and legs and stand almost ui)right, so as to 

 present a very distinct appearance. Their skeleton has 

 become modified, the ribs being broader and the vertebrae 

 more numerous than in other pigeons. 



