204 DOMESTIC PIGEONS: Chap. VI 



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 

 Prom 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 develop- 

 ment of down in the young and the future colour of plumage. 

 All have the proportional 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. Xow 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 characters 

 alone. This fact is explicable through the doctrine of natural 

 selection ; for each successive modification of structure in each 

 natural species is preserved, solely because it is of service ; 

 and such modifications when largely accumulated imply a 

 great change in the habits of life, and this will almost cer- 

 tainly lead to other changes of structure throughout the whole 

 organization. On the other hand, if the several races of the 

 pigeon have been produced by man through selection and 

 variation, we can readily understand how it is that they 

 should still all resemble each other in habits and in those 

 many characters which man has not cared to modify, whilst 

 they differ to so prodigious a degree in those parts which 

 have struck his eye or pleased his fancy. 



Besides the points above enumerated, in which all the 

 domestic races resemble C. livia and each other, there is one 

 which deserves special notice. The wild rock-pigeon is of a 

 slaty-blue colour ; the wings are crossed by two bars : the 

 croup varies in colour, being generally white in the pigeon 

 of Europe, and blue in that of India ; the tail has a black bar 

 close to the end. and the outer webs of the outer tail-feathers 

 are edged with white, except near the tips. These combined 



