The Feather's Practical Pigeon Book, 



for nowhere in a state of nature are any breeds of pig- 

 eons found with peculiarities that can mark them as the 

 progenitors of any of those varieties we know to-day 

 as high-class pigeons. 



Darwin, than whom there is no better modern author- 

 ity, made deep research in this direction. Being an 

 ardent pigeon fancier himself, he had the best of oppor- 

 tunities to study their construction and habits, and at 

 first inclined to the belief that most fancy pigeons 

 sprang from separate sources, but giving it thought and 

 being so led to experiment in crossing, he found that 

 the tendency was to continually revert to the common 

 origin, and that in the end his crosses produced a blue 

 pigeon, with white rump and black bars on the wings 

 like the Blue Rock. 



We all know how, by proper selection, we can, after 

 a time, breed all the fancy qualities out of a pigeon and 

 liave nothing left, as it were, but the frame or founda- 

 tion. For instance, take the Fantail ; by selecting the 

 poorest specimens of a flock, we can, by continued 

 breeding, bring them down to what we call a common 

 pigeon with twelve feathers in the tail, and as distinct 

 in shape and action from the Fan as well can be. 



So this process of evolution upward, while necessarily 

 slower than the breaking-down process, can, by the se- 

 lection of the fittest, finally be brought about. Doubtless 

 our ancient pigeon fanciers taking advantage of some 

 marked peculiarity in some of their feathered pets by 

 crossing them together fixed these qualities, and so by 

 careful selection of their progeny and mating back to 

 the parents, a variety distinct from the Blue Rock was 

 established. From this variety it may be there was a 

 sport, and this again being protected and preserved, es- 

 tablished another variety. This is, of course, all con- 



