504 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



and seventy-two thousand pigeons. An almost inconceivable multitude, 

 and yet probably far below the actual amount." 



The days of such enormous flocks have gone by, and to man is to be 

 attributed the change. Not that the amount that he slaughtered, or the 

 young that he killed, had any appreciable effect ; the result was accom- 

 plished in a more indirect manner. Man cut off the forests of beech, and 

 as the supply of mast was thus diminished, the number of the pigeons was 

 correspondingly reduced . 



HR*' 



Fig. 420. — Rock-pigeon (Columba livida). 



One of the most remarkable facts in the whole realm of natural history 

 is the remarkable variation to be seen in the domesticated pigeons, and yet 

 all are descended from the rock-pigeon shown in our cut. I cannot conceive 

 how any one can appreciate even this one fact and not believe in evolution. 

 Here from one form species and genera innumerable have been formed in 

 a comparatively limited space of time. The 'nuns,' with their heavily 

 feathered feet, the ' pouters,' with their enormous inflated breasts, the ' fan- 

 tails/ with far more than the ordinary number of tail-feathers, and a 

 hundred more, would each be made a distinct species or genus, or even a 

 group of higher rank, if found in the state of nature. Why should they 

 not when produced by the action of man ? 





