24 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. Chap. I. 



even on several of the smaller British islets, or on the 

 shores of the Mediterranean. Hence the supposed ex- ' 

 termination of so many species having similar habits 

 with the rock-pigeon seems to me a very rash assump- 

 tion. Moreover, the several above-named domesticated 

 breeds have been transported to all parts of the world, 

 and, therefore, some of them must have been carried 

 back again into their native country ; but not one has 

 ever become wild or feral, though the dovecot-pigeon, 

 which is the rock-pigeon in a very slightly altered state, 

 has become feral in several places. Again, all recent 

 experience shows that it is most difficult to get any wild 

 animal to breed freely under domestication ; yet on the 

 hypothesis of the multiple origin of our pigeons, it must 

 be assumed that at least seven or eight species were so 

 thoroughly domesticated in ancient times by half-civi- 

 lized man, as to be quite prolific under confinement. 



An argument, as it seems to me, of great weight, and 

 applicable in several other cases, is, that the above- 

 specified breeds, though agreeing generally in constitu- 

 tion, habits, voice, colouring, and in most parts of their 

 structure, with the wild rock-pigeon, yet are certainly 

 highly abnormal in other parts of their structure : we 

 may look in vain throughout the whole great family of 

 Columbidae for a beak like that of the English carrier, 

 or that of the short-faced tumbler, or barb ; for reversed 

 feathers like those of the jacobin ; for a crop like that 

 of the pouter ; for tail-feathers like those of the fantail. 

 Hence it must be assumed not only that half-civilized 

 man succeeded in thoroughly domesticating several 

 species, but that he intentionally or by chance picked 

 out extraordinarily abnormal species ; and further, that 

 these very species have since all become extinct or un- 

 known. So many strange contingencies seem to me 

 improbable in the highest degree. 



