Chap. VI. MANNER OF FORMATION OF THE CHIEF EACES. 217 



Exhibitions. The ambition of the most energetic fancier may 

 be fully satisfied by the difficulty of excelling other fanciers 

 in the breeds already established, without trying to form a new 

 one. 



A difficulty with respect to the power of selection will perhaps 

 already have occurred to the reader, namely, what could have led 

 fanciers first to attempt to make such singular breeds as pouters, 

 fantails, carriers, &c. ? But it is this very difficulty which the 

 principle of unconscious selection removes. Undoubtedly no 

 fancier ever did intentionally make such an attempt. All that 

 we need suppose is that a variation occurred sufficiently marked 

 to catch the discriminating eye of some ancient fancier, and 

 then unconscious selection carried on for many generations, that 

 is, the wish of succeeding fanciers to excel their rivals, would do 

 the rest. In the case of the fantail we may suppose that the 

 first progenitor of the breed had a tail only slightly erected, 

 as may now be seen in certain runts, 45 with some increase in the 

 number of the tail-feathers, as now occasionally occurs with 

 nuns. In the case of the pouter we may suppose that some bird 

 inflated its crop a little more than other pigeons, as is now the 

 case in a slight degree with the oesophagus of the turbit. We 

 do not in the least know the origin of the common tumbler, but 

 we may suppose that a bird was born with some affection of the 

 brain, leading it to make somersaults in the air ; and the diffi- 

 culty in this case is lessened, as we know that, before the year 

 1600, in India, pigeons remarkable for their diversified manner 

 of flight were much valued, and by the order of the Emperor 

 Akber Khan were sedulously trained and carefully matched. 



In the foregoing cases we have supposed that a sudden 

 variation, conspicuous enough to catch a fancier's eye, first 

 appeared ; but even this degree of abruptness in the process of 

 vanation is not necessary for the formation of a new breed 

 When the same kind of pigeon has been kept pure, and has 

 been bred during a long period by two or more fanciers, slight 

 differences m the strain can often be recognised. Thus I have 

 seen first-rate jacobins in one man's possession which certainly 



Taubfnzu^hT ieiSter ' S **"" ° f ** M01 ' enCe ^ tab ' 13 ' in ' Das Ganze der 



