Chap. VI. THEIR PARENTAGE. 191 



to the eleven chief domestic races of the pigeon, which are sup- 

 posed by some authors to be descended from so many distinct 

 species ! no one has ever pretended that any one of these races 

 has been found wild in any quarter of the world; yet they 

 have been transported to all countries, and some of them must 

 have been carried back to their native homes. On the view 

 that all the races are the product of variation, we can under- 

 stand why they have not become feral, for the great amount of 

 modificatiou which they have undergone shows how long and 

 how thoroughly they have been domesticated ; and this would 

 unfit them for a wild life. 



Fourthly. — If it be assumed that the characteristic differences 

 between the various domestic races are due to descent from 

 several aboriginal species, we must conclude that man chose 

 for domestication in ancient times, either intentionally or by 

 chance, a most abnormal set of pigeons ; for that species 

 resembling such birds as pouters, fantails, carriers, barbs, short- 

 faced tumblers, turbits, &c, would be in the highest degree 

 abnormal, as compared with all the existing members of the 

 great pigeon family, cannot be doubted. Thus we should have 

 to believe that man not only formerly succeeded in thoroughly 

 domesticating several highly abnormal species, but that these 

 same species have since all become extinct, or are at least now 

 unknown. This double accident is so extremely improbable 

 that the assumed existence of so many abnormal species would 

 require to be supported by the strongest evidence. On the 

 other hand, if all the races are descended from Q. livia, we can 

 understand, as will hereafter be more fully explained, how any 

 slight deviation in structure which first appeared would con- 

 tinually be augmented by the preservation of the most strongly 

 marked individuals ; and as the power of selection would be 

 applied according to man's fancy, and not for the bird's own 

 good, the accumulated amount of deviation would certainly be 

 of an abnormal nature in comparison with the structure of 

 pigeons living in a state of nature. 



I have already alluded to the remarkable fact that the cha- 



Port Royal' by a competent authority, that they were not Curassows. With 

 Mr. R. Hill, p. 42. For the turkey I respect to fowls I will give the refer- 

 rely on oral information ; I ascertained ences in the next chapter 





