36 • PIGEONS. 



tions of the head and beak. The feet and legs are exceedingly small, and tho 

 bird appears to be quite a dwarf when placed side by side with this great Carrier. 



" These are differences enough in regard to their external appearance; but these 

 differences are by no means the whole or even the most important of the differences 

 which obtain between these birds. There is hardly a single point of their 

 structure which has not become more or less altered ; and to give you an idea of 

 how extensive these alterations are, I have here some very good skeletons, for 

 which I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Tegetmeier, a great authority in these 

 matters ; by means of which, if you examine them by-and-by, you will be able to 

 see the enormous difference in their bony structures. 



" I had the privilege, some time ago, of access to some important manuscripts 

 of Mr. Darwin,* who, I may tell you, has taken very great pains and spent much 

 valuable time and attention on the investigation of these variations, and getting 

 together all the facts that bear upon them. I obtained from these manuscripts 

 the following summary of the differences between the domestic breeds of pigeons ; 

 that is to say, a notification of the various points in which their organization 

 differs. In the first place, the back of the skull may differ a good deal, and the 

 development of the bones of the face may vary a great deal; the back varies a 

 good deal ; the shape of the lower jaw varies ; the tongue varies very greatly, not 

 only in correlation to the length and size of the beak, but it seems also to have a 

 kind of independent variation of its own. Then the amount of naked skin round 

 the eyes, and at the base of the beak, may vary enormously ; so may the length 

 of the eyelids, the shape of the nostrils, and the length of the neck. I have 

 already noticed the habit of blowing out the gullet, so remarkable in the Pouter, 

 and comparatively so in the others. There are great differences, too, in the size 

 of the female and the male, the shape of the body, the number and width of 

 the processes of the ribs, the development of the ribs, and the size, shape, and 

 development of the breastbone. We may notice, too, — and I mention the fact 

 because it has been disputed by what is assumed to be high authority, — the varia- 

 tion in number of the sacral vertebra?. The number of these varies from eleven to 

 fourteen, and that without any diminution in the number of the vertebra? of tho 

 back or of the tail. Then the number and position of the tail-feathers may vary 

 enormously, and so may the number of the primary and secondary feathers of the 

 wings. Again, the length of the feet and of the beak, — although they have no rela- 

 tion to each other, yet appear to go together, — that is, you have a long beak wherever 

 you have long feet. There are differences also in the periods of the acquire- 

 ment of the perfect plumage, — the size and shape of the eggs, — the nature of flight, 

 and the powers of flight, — so-called ' homing' birds having enormous flying powers ; 

 while, on the other hand, the little Tumbler is so called because of its extraordi- 



* The manuscript to which Professor Huxley referred was that of " The Variation of Animals 

 and Plants under Domestication ; or, the Principles of Inheritance, Reversion, Crossing, Inter- 

 breeding, and Selection," by Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., author of " The Origin of Species by 

 Variation." London, John Murray. 2 vols. 8vo. 1867. 



