148 Hillside. 



development are shown in our domestic breeds of rabbits 

 and fowls, when compared with their wild progenitors. 

 Here, then, we see at the very outset that man, by selecting 

 individuals which show special characteristics, and by 

 breeding from such only as show these characters in the 

 most marked degree, has been able to fix the desired 

 character on a definite number of individuals, until in 

 time a distinct race has been produced. It is true that 

 isolated individuals, even in the best selected races, show 

 traces of a tendency to revert to the characters of their 

 remote ancestors; but by the careful elimination of such, the 

 race (or breed, as it is called) is kept up to a high pitch of 

 perfection, judged, that is, from the standpoint of the artifi- 

 cial standard set up by the breeder. The "points" which the 

 breeder aims at securing may be such as would be utterly 

 useless, if not actually injurious, to the species in its 

 struggle for existence under natural conditions ; hence, if 

 these highly-bred birds be allowed to revert to a wild state, 

 the " points " which have been produced with such nicety 

 may very rapidly disappear in the successive broods, until in 

 a few years at most, scarcely any difference will be observ- 

 able between their descendants and the original wild forms. 

 So far, then, our inquiry has only shown us that a number of 

 latent variable points may be hidden in a bird which Nature 

 could and would seize hold of, and rapidly perfect, if it was 

 to the advantage and for the well-being of the species that 

 she should do so. The swollen throat, the fan-tail, and 

 other structural peculiarities are of no value at the present 

 time, and in the conditions under which the wild pigeon at 

 present exists ; but, given a change of environment in which 

 any of these modifications would be of advantage, and there 



