186 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



ranked as distinct genera if they occurred wild. 

 Yet there is strong evidence that all are scions 

 of the blue rock-pigeon {Columba livia). Darwin 

 pointed out that the social, non-arboreal habits, 

 the mode of cooing, and other characters of 

 domestic pigeons, point to Columba livia ; that 

 this bird has a wide range of distribution; that 

 it is very variable in plumage, easily tamed, and 

 actually domesticated ; that all races of domestic 

 pigeons are fertile when crossed, and their ofE- 

 spring are usually fertile — two facts which point 

 to one origin for all ; that all domestic pigeons 

 tend to revert to the blue rock-pigeon; and 

 so on. 



In the same way, as is well known, Darwin 

 brought forward evidence that all the breeds of 

 poultry — ^Hamburghs and Dorkings, Bantams and 

 Silk-fowl, and all the rest of them — are descended 

 from the jungle- fowl, Gallus bankiva, which is 

 still found wild in some parts of India and the 

 Malay Islands. There seems to be evidence that 

 the jungle-fowl — which our gamecock most nearly 

 resembles — was domesticated in the East before 

 1400 B.C., and was introduced into Europe about 

 600 B.C. The clear cases of pigeon and fowl were 

 backed up by more difficult cases, such as those 

 of horse and dog, where it seems almost certain 

 that the domesticated breeds have arisen from 

 several distinct wild species. 



At all events, Darwin proved, up to the hilt, that 

 the breeder is a transformist. Circe changed men 

 into pigs ; the prehistoric breeders made a wolfish 

 creature into a trustworthy guardian of their 

 flocks. What is the method ? The breeder can- 

 not create ; he waits for what turns up, and then hq 



