Chap. VI. MANNER OF FORMATION OF THE CHIEF RACES. 215 



carrier, the shortened beak of the short-faced tumbler, the 

 lengthened leg of the pouter, the more perfectly-enclosed hood 

 of the jacobin, &c, — changes effected since the time of Aldro- 

 vandi, or even since a much later period, — to the direct and 

 immediate action of the conditions of life. For these several 

 races have been modified in various and even in directly opposite 

 ways, though kept under the same climate and treated in all 

 respects in as nearly uniform a manner as possible. Each slight 

 change in the length or shortness of the beak, in the length of 

 leg, &c, has no doubt been indirectly and remotely caused by some 

 change in the conditions to which the bird has been subjected, 

 but we must attribute the final result, as is manifest in those 

 cases of which we have any historical record, to the continued 

 selection and accumulation of many slight successive variations. 



The action of unconscious selection, as far as pigeons are 

 concerned, depends on a universal principle in human nature, 

 namely, on our rivalry, and desire to outdo our neighbours. We 

 see this in every fleeting fashion, even in our dress, and it leads 

 the fancier to endeavour to exaggerate every peculiarity in his 

 breeds. A great authority on pigeons, 44 says, " Fanciers do not and 

 will not admire a medium standard, that is, half and half, which 

 is neither here nor there, but admire extremes." After remarking 

 that the fancier of short-faced beard tumblers wishes for a very 

 short beak, and that the fancier of long-faced beard tumblers wishes 

 for a very long beak, he says, with respect to one of intermediate 

 length, " Don't deceive yourself. Do you suppose for a moment 

 the short or the long-faced fancier would accept such a bird as a 

 gift ? Certainly not ; the short-faced fancier could see no beauty 

 in it ; the long-faced fancier would swear there was no use in 

 it, &c." In these comical passages, written seriously, we see the 

 principle which has ever guided fanciers, and has led to such 

 great modifications in all the domestic races which are valued 

 solely for their beauty or curiosity. 



Fashions in pigeon-breeding endure for long periods ; we 

 cannot change the structure of a bird as quickly as we can the 

 fashion of our dress. In the time of Aldrovandi, no doubt the 

 more the pouter inflated his crop, the more he was valued. 

 Nevertheless, fashions do to a certain extent change; first one 

 44 Eaton's « Treatise on Pigeons,' 1858, p. 86. 



