28 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. Chap. I. 



of fare in the previous dynasty. In the time of the 

 Romans, as we hear from Pliny, immense prices were 

 given for pigeons ; " nay, they are come to this pass, that 

 they can reckon up their pedigree and race." Pigeons 

 were much valued by Akber Khan in India, about the 

 year 1600 ; never less than 20,000 pigeons were taken 

 with the court. " The monarchs of Iran and Turan sent 

 him some very rare birds ;" and, continues the courtly 

 historian, " His Majesty by crossing the breeds, which 

 method was never practised before, has improved them 

 astonishingly." About this same period the Dutch were 

 as eager about pigeons as were the old Romans. The 

 paramount importance of these considerations in ex- 

 plaining the immense amount of variation which pigeons 

 have undergone, will be obvious when we treat of Selec- 

 tion. We shall then, also, see how it is that the breeds 

 so often have a somewhat monstrous character. It is 

 also a most favourable circumstance for the production 

 of distinct breeds, that male and female pigeons can be 

 easily mated for life ; and thus different breeds can be 

 kept together in the same aviary. 



I have discussed the probable origin of domestic 

 pigeons at some, yet quite insufficient, length ; because 

 when I first kept pigeons and watched the several kinds, 

 knowing well how true they bred, I felt fully as much 

 difficulty in believing that they could ever have descended 

 from a common parent, as any naturalist could in coming 

 to a similar conclusion in regard to the many species of 

 finches, or other large groups of birds, in nature. One 

 circumstance has struck me much ; namely, that all 

 the breeders of the various domestic animals and the 

 cultivators of plants, with whom I have ever conversed, 

 or whose treatises I have read, are firmly convinced 

 that the several breeds to which each has attended, are 

 descended from so many aboriginally distinct species. 



