Chap. YL HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL RACES. 217 



life, and, though kept with other pigeons, rarely prove un- 

 faithful to each other. Even when the male does break his 

 marriage-vow, he does not permanently desert his mate. I 

 have bred in the same aviaries many pigeons of different 

 kinds, and never reared a single bird of an impure strain. 

 Hence a fancier can with the greatest ease select and 

 match his birds. He will also see the good results of his 

 care; for pigeons breed with extraordinary rapidity. He 

 may freely reject inferior birds, as they serve at an early 

 age as excellent food. 



History of the principal Races of the Pigeon. 36 



Before discussing the means and steps by which the chief races 

 have been formed, it will be advisable to give some historical details, 

 for more is known of the history of the pigeon, little though this is, 

 than of any other domesticated animal. Some of the cases are inter- 

 esting as proving how long domestic varieties may be propagated 

 with exactly the same or nearly the same characters; and other 

 cases are still more interesting as showing how slowly but steadily 

 races have been greatly modified during successive generations. In 

 the last chapter I stated that Trumpeters and Laughers, both 

 so remarkable for their voices, seem to have been perfectly charac- 

 terised in 1735 ; and Laughers were apparently known in India 

 before the year 16C0. Spots in 1676, and Nuns in the time of 

 Aldrovandi, before 1600, were coloured exactly as they now are. 

 Common Tumblers and Ground Tumblers displayed in India, before 

 the year 1600, the same extraordinary peculiarities of flight as at 

 the present day, for they are well described in the ' Ayeen Akbery.' 

 These breeds may all have existed for a much longer period; we 

 know only that they were perfectly characterised at the dates above 

 given. The average length of life of the domestic pigeon is probably 

 about five or six years ; if so, some of these races have retained 

 their character perfectly for at least forty or fifty generations. 



Pouters. — These birds, as far as a very short description serves for 

 comparison, appear to have been well characterised in Aldrovancli's 

 time, 37 before the year 1600. Length of body and length of leg are 

 at the present time the two chief points of excellence. In 1735 

 Moore said (see Mr. J. M. Eaton's edition)— and Moore was a first- 

 rate fancier — that he once saw a bird with a body 20 inches in 

 length, " though 17 or 18 inches is reckoned a very good length ;" and 

 he has seen the legs very nearly 7 inches in length, yet a leg 62 or 61 

 long " must be allowed to be a very good one." Mr. Bult, the most 



86 As in the following discussion I completed in the year 1858. 

 often speak of the present time, I 37 ' Ornithologie,' 1600, vol. ii. p 



should state that this chapter was 360. 



