VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION IS 



in Europe; for whence otherwise could they have been derived? 

 So it is in India. Even in the case of the breeds of the domestic 

 dog throughout the world, which I admit are descended from sev- 

 eral wild species, it cannot be doubted that there has been an im- 

 mense amount of inherited variation; for who will believe that 

 animals closely resembling the Italian greyhound, the bloodhound, 

 the bull-dog, pug-dog, or Blenheim spaniel, etc. — so unlike all 

 wild Canidae — ever existed in a state of nature? It has often been 

 loosely said that all our races of dogs have been produced by the 

 crossing of a few aboriginal species; but by crossing we can only 

 get forms in some degree intermediate between their parents; and 

 if we account for our several domestic races by this process, we 

 must admit the former existence of the most extreme forms, as the 

 Italian greyhound, bloodhound, bull-dog, etc., in the wild state. 

 Moreover, the possibility of making distinct races by crossing has 

 been greatly exaggerated. Many cases are on record showing that 

 a race may be modified by occasional crosses if aided by the care- 

 ful selection of the individuals which present the desired charac- 

 ter; but to obtain a race intermediate between two quite distinct 

 races would be very difficult. Sir J. Sebright expressly experi 

 mented with this object and failed. The offspring from the first 

 cross between two pure breeds is tolerably and sometimes (as 

 have found with pigeons) quite uniform in character, and every 

 thing seems simple enough; but when these mongrels are crossed 

 one with another for several generations, hardly two of them are 

 alike, and then the difficulty of the task becomes manifest. 



H 



Believing that it is always best to study some special group, I 

 have, after deliberation, taken up domestic pigeons. I have kept 

 every breed which I could purchase or obtain, and have been most 

 kindly favored with skins from several quarters of the world, more 

 especially by the Hon. W. Elliot, from India, and by the Hon. C. 

 Murray, from Persia. Many treatises in different languages have 

 been published on pigeons, and some of them are very important 

 as being of considerable antiquity. I have associated with several 

 eminent fanciers and have been permitted to join two of the Lon- 

 don Pigeon Clubs. The diversity of the breeds is something aston- 

 ishing. Compare the English carrier and the short-faced tumbler, 

 and see the wonderful difference in their beaks, entailing cor- 

 responding differences in their skulls. The carrier, more especially 

 the male bird, is also remarkable from the wonderful develop- 

 ment of the carunculated skin about the head; and this is ac- 



