194 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. Chap. YI. 



all the cases which I have collected) that hardly a single well- 

 ascertained instance is known of hybrids between two true 

 species of pigeons being fertile, inter se, or even when crossed 

 with one of their pure parents. 



Sixthly. — Excluding certain important characteristic differ- 

 ences, the chief races agree most closely both with each other 

 and with O. livia in all other respects. As previously observed, 

 all are eminently sociable ; all dislike to j perch or roost, and 

 refuse to build in trees; all lay two eggs, and this is not a 

 universal rule with the Colunibida3 ; all, as far as I can hear, 

 require the same time for hatching their eggs ; all can endure 

 the same great range of climate ; all prefer the same food, and 

 are passionately fond of salt ; all exhibit (with the asserted 

 exception of the finnikin and turner which do not differ much 

 in any other character) the same peculiar gestures when court- 

 ing the females ; and all (with the exception of trumpeters 

 and laughers, which likewise do not differ much in any other 

 character) coo in the same peculiar manner, unlike the voice 

 of any other wild pigeon. All the coloured breeds display the 

 same peculiar metallic tints on the breast, a character far from 

 general with pigeons. Each race presents nearly the same range 

 of variation in colour ; and in most of the races we have the same 

 singular correlation between the development of down in the 

 young and the future colour of plumage. All have the propor- 

 tional length of their toes, and of their primary wing-feathers, 

 nearly the same, — characters which are apt to differ in the several 

 members of the Columbidae. In those races which present some 

 remarkable deviation of structure, such as in the tail of fantails, 

 crop of pouters, beak of carriers and tumblers, &c, the other 

 parts remain nearly unaltered. Now every naturalist will admit 

 that it would be scarcely possible to pick out a dozen natural 

 species in any Family which should agree closely in habits and 

 in general structure, and yet should differ greatly in a few cha- 



many eggs were produced, but all were the Zoological Gardens of London the 



barren. At Paris, hybrids have been Goura coronata and victories produced 



raised (Isid. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, a hybrid which paired with the pure 



'Hist. Nat. Generale,' torn. iii. p. 180) G. coronata, and laid several eggs, but 



from Turtur auritus with T. cam- these proved barren. In 1860 Columba 



bayensis and with T. suratensis ; but gymnophthalmos and maculosa produced 



nothing is said of their fertility. At hybrids in these same gardens. 



