52 ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



perfection comparable with that acquired by the plants in 

 countries anciently civilised. 



In regard to the domestic animals kept by uncivilised man, 

 it should not be overlooked that they almost always have to 

 struggle for their own food, at least during certain seasons. 

 And in two countries very differently circumstanced, indi- 

 viduals of the same species, having slightly different consti- 

 tutions or structure, would often succeed better in the one 

 country than in the other; and thus by a process of "natural 

 selection," as will hereafter be more fully explained, two sub- 

 breeds might be formed. This, perhaps, partly explains why 

 the varieties kept by savages, as has been remarked by some 

 authors, have more of the character of true species than the 

 varieties kept in civilised countries. 



On the view here given of the important part which selec- 

 tion by man has played, it becomes at once obvious, how it is 

 that our domestic races show adaptation in their structure or 

 in their habits to man's wants or fancies. We can, I think, 

 further understand the frequently abnormal character of our 

 domestic races, and likewise their differences being so great 

 in external characters, and relatively so slight in internal 

 parts or organs. Man can hardly select, or only with much 

 difficulty, any deviation of structure excepting such as is ex- 

 ternally visible ; and indeed he rarely cares for what is inter- 

 nal. He can never act by selection, excepting on variations 

 which are first given to him in some slight degree by nature. 

 No man would ever try to make a fantail till he saw a pigeon 

 with a tail developed in some slight degree in an unusual 

 manner, or a pouter till he saw a pigeon with a crop of some- 

 what unusual size ; and the more abnormal or unusual any 

 character was when it first appeared, the more likely it would 

 be to catch his attention. But to use such an expression as 

 trying to make a fantail, is, I have no doubt, in most cases, 

 utterly incorrect. The man who first selected a pigeon with 

 a slightly larger tail, never dreamed what the descendants of 

 that pigeon would become through long-continued, partly 

 unconscious and partly methodical, selection. Perhaps the 

 parent-bird of all fantails had only fourteen tail-feathers 

 somewhat expanded, like the present Java fantail, or like in- 

 dividuals of other and distinct breeds, in which as many as 



