184 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



bag in the middle of a flock of pigeons which show 

 every sign of appreciation of the largess. 



One of the most interesting things about the 

 London pigeon is the way in which he is working 

 out and confirming one of the most striking of the 

 Darwinian theories. The wild pigeons in London 

 are beyond doubt the descendants of stray birds 

 which, finding food plentiful, took to their present 

 mode of life, and their numbers are still occasionally 

 recruited by tame birds which join them with the 

 usual instinct of pigeons in such cases. The present 

 pigeons are in fact the descendants of a motley crew 

 of birds of many breeds and all colomrs. It is 

 generally acknowledged that all varieties of our 

 domestic pigeon came originally from one wild 

 species, the common blue-rock, still found wild on 

 many parts of the coast. This bird has a character- 

 istic colour and very pecuhar markings which 

 distinguish it from all other species of pigeons 

 throughout the world. The colour is slaty-blue, 

 and the wings are marked with two dark transverse 

 bands, the tail feathers having also a dark band 

 across the end, while the outer tail-feathers are 

 edged with white at the base. Despite the many 

 distinct breeds of domestic pigeons at the present 

 day, not only is it held that they are all descended 

 from a common stock, but it is asserted, that if all 

 the varieties were turned loose and allowed to inter- 

 breed freely, their descendants would, in course of 

 time, aU once more return to this blue-rock type in 

 which they all originated. The London pigeon is 

 doing something to work out this experiment. 

 Any one who watches a flock of the pigeons which 

 frequent the buildings in London will certainly see 



