74 SAVAGE SUEVIVALS 



Domestic Selection, in both animals and 

 plants, is in its infancy. Only those with the souls 

 of seers can even dream of the miracles that are 

 destined to be wrought by man on himself and by 

 man on the races associated with him, in the ages 

 that are yet to dawn on this globe. Man has al- 

 ready made spineless cactuses, and green roses, 

 and seedless oranges, apples, grapes, bananas, 

 and pineapples. And in the same way he can, if 

 he wants to, and will set his mind to it, develop 

 mustard seeds as big as marbles, and sheep with 

 hair like silk, and cows that do nothing but give 

 cream the year around. 



13. Cliff-dwellers with Wings. 



I wonder how many of those who have associat- 

 ed with pigeons have ever thought why these birds 

 do not light in trees and do not build their nests 

 in trees, as birds usually do, instead of in artifi- 

 cial apartments created by man. 



There are something like 200 different varieties 

 of the domestic pigeon. They have all come from 

 the rock-dove, a bird which makes its home among 

 the sea-cliffs of Europe. The rock-dove is not a 

 tree-haunting bird. It perches on rocks, and 

 builds its nest in the clefts of the rocks. The do- 

 mestic pigeon builds its nest in a man-made cave 

 because its ancestors were cliff-dwellers and built 

 their nests in rock-clefts. It prefers the house-top 

 to trees, because a house-top or gable is a more 

 satisfactory cliff than a tree. 



