238 SELECTION, Chap. XXI 



The importance of selection is likewise shown by considering 

 special characters. For instance, with most breeds of fowls the 

 form of the comb and the colour of the plumage have been 

 attended to, and are eminently characteristic of each race • 

 but in Dorkings, fashion has never demanded uniformity of 

 comb or colour ; and the utmost diversity in these respects pre- 

 vails. Rose-combs, double-combs, cup-combs, &c, and colours 

 of all kinds, may be seen in purely bred and closely related 

 Dorking fowls, whilst other points, such as the general form of 

 body, and the presence of an additional toe, have been attended 

 to, and are invariably present. It has also been ascertained 

 that colour can be fixed in this breed, as well as in any other. 51 



During the formation or improvement of a breed, its members 

 will always be found to vary much in those characters to which 

 especial attention is directed, and of which each slight im- 



provement is eagerly sought and selected. Thus with short-faced 



51 Mr. Baily, in • The Poultry Chro- cember, p. 171 ; 1856, January, pp. 

 nicle,' vol. ii., 1854, p. 150. Also vol. i. 248, 323. 



p. 342 ; vol. iii. p. 245. 53 ' Ueber Shorthorn Kindvieh,' 1857, 



52 ' Cottage Gardener,' 1855, De- s. 51. 



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tumbler-pigeons, the shortness of the beak, shape of head and 

 plumage, — with carriers, the length of the beak and wattle, 

 with fantails, the tail and carriage, — with Spanish fowls, the white 

 face and comb, — with long-eared rabbits, the length of ear, are 

 all points which are eminently variable. So it is in every case, 

 and the large price paid for first-rate animals proves the diffi- 

 culty of breeding them up to the highest standard of excellence. 

 This subject has been discussed by fanciers, 52 and the greater 

 prizes given for highly improved breeds, in comparison with 

 those given for old breeds which are not now undergoing rapid 

 improvement, has been fully justified. Nathusius makes 53 a 

 similar remark when discussing the less uniform character of 

 improved Shorthorn cattle and of the English horse, in com- 

 parison, for example, with the unennobled cattle of Hungary, 

 or with the horses of the Asiatic steppes. This want of uni- 

 formity in the parts which at the time are undergoing selection, » 

 chiefly depends on the strength of the principle of reversion; 

 but it likewise depends to a certain extent on the continued 



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