CHAP, v.j WHETHER DISTINCT. 165 



The fact of such derivation is here assumed, without 

 questioning the truth of the doctrine. But it does 

 seem to us a most curious result, and contrary to the 

 course of chances, that so anomalous a monstrosity as 

 the Fantail (if it be monstrosity), should be equally 

 generated, with such complete similarity as to be a du- 

 plicate specimen, from two distinct and aboriginal spe- 

 cies, one existing in India, the other in Europe. It 

 appears just as improbable as that two wild species 

 of Brassica, one native of Asia, the other of Europe, 

 should each throw off, as seedlings, an identical variety 

 of brocoli. 



Mr. Blyth goes on to describe the Indian Rock 

 Pigeon : " Colour slaty-gray, darker on the head, 

 breast, upper and lower tail-coverts, and tail, which last 

 has a blackish terminal band not well defined ; nuchal 

 feathers divergent at their tips, and brightly glossed with 

 changeable green and reddish-purple ; two black bars 

 on the wing ; the primaries tinged with brownish, and 

 the outermost tail feather having its external web gra- 

 dually more albescent to the base. Irides brownish- 

 orange, the lids bluish-white ; bill black, with a white 

 mealiness at the tumid base of its upper mandible ; and 

 legs reddish-pink. Length 13 by 23 inches; of wing 

 8f inches." 



What follows is especially deserving of attention 

 from the speculative naturalist : " In some specimens, 

 particularly among the semi-domestic, slight dusky 

 streaks occur on the shafts of the lesser wing-coverts, 

 which streaks, in the latter, are often much more deve- 

 loped, spreading across the feathers and spotting the 

 whole wing; such birds much resembling (except in 

 the rump not being white) a race of wild Pigeons that 



