28 PIGEONS. 



tail, consisting of three quill feathers, growing out between the shoulders. Unfor- 

 tunately, the bird had been shot, otherwise there would have been but little 

 difficulty in establishing a race of two-tailed Pigeons from this singular variation. 

 It is needless to go through all the varieties in succession, for the same principle 

 applies to the production of each. The recurved feathers of the Jacobin and other 

 breeds, the long beak of the Carrier, the length of plumage and limb in the 

 Pouter, &c, &c, all owe their origin to natural variations which have been per- 

 petuated and intensified by the careful selection exercised by the breeders through 

 many successive generations. 



We know that this view is widely opposed to the general ideas of persons who 

 have not very carefully studied the subject, and would therefore call attention to 

 the following passage from " The Origin of Species," by Mr. Charles Darwin, in 

 which the facts bearing on this question are very fully stated : — 



"Great as the differences are between the breeds of pigeons, lam fully con- 

 vinced that the common opinion of naturalists is correct, namely, that all have 

 descended from the Eock Pigeon (Columba livid), including, under this term, 

 several geographical races or sub-species, which differ from each other in the 

 most trifling respects. As several of the reasons which have led me to this 

 belief are in some degree applicable in other cases, I will here briefly give them. 



" If the several breeds are not varieties, and have not proceeded from the Eock 

 Pigeon, they must have descended from at least seven or eight aboriginal stocks ; 

 for it is impossible to make the present domestic breeds by the crossing of any 

 lesser number: how, for instance, could a Pouter be produced by crossing two 

 breeds, unless one of the parent-stocks possessed the characteristic enormous 

 crop ? The supposed aboriginal stocks must all have been Eock Pigeons, that is, 

 not breeding or willingly perching on trees. But besides C. livia, with its geo- 

 graphical sub-species, only two or three other species of Eock Pigeons are known ; 

 and these have not any of the characters of the domestic breeds. Hence the 

 supposed aboriginal stocks must either still exist in the countries where they were 

 originally domesticated, and yet be unknown to ornithologists — and this, con- 

 sidering their size, habits, and remarkable characters, seems very improbable — or 

 they must have become extinct in the wild state. But birds building on precipices, 

 and good flyers, are unlikely to be exterminated ; and the common Eock Pigeon, 

 which has the same habits with the domestic breeds, has not been exterminated 

 even on several of the smaller British islets, or on the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 Hence the supposed extermination of so many species having similar habits 

 with the Eock Pigeon seems to me a very rash assumption. Moreover, the several 

 above-named domesticated breeds have been transported to all parts of the 

 world, and, therefore, some of them must have been earned back again into 

 their native country; but not one has ever become wild or feral, though the 

 Dovecote Pigeon, which is the Eock Pigeon in a very slightly altered state, 

 has become feral in several places. Again, all recent experience shows that it is 

 most difficult to get any wild animal to breed freely under domestication ; yet, 



