30 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. [Chap. L 



is a tendency in the breed to revert to a character which 

 w,as lost during some former generation, this tendency, 

 for all that we can see to the contrary, may be trans- 

 mitJ;ed undiminished for an indefinite number of gen- 

 erations. These two distinct cases of reversion are 

 often confounded together by those who have written 

 on inheritance. 



Lastly, the h}fj)rids or mongrels from between all the 

 breeds of the pigeon are perfectly fertile, as I can 

 state from my own (^sl^servations, purposely made, on 

 the most distinct breeds^ Now, hardly any cases have 

 been ascertained with cer\tainty of hybrids from two 

 quite distinct species of aninijals being perfectly fertile. 

 Some authors believe that long;-continued domestication 

 eliminates this strong tendencjr to sterility in species. 

 Prom the history of the dog, and «f some other domestic 

 animals, this conclusion is probaWj^ quite correct, if 

 applied to species closely related to\aeh other. But 

 to extend it so far as to suppose that species, aborigi- 

 nally as distinct as carriers, tumblers, pout^ers, and fan- 

 tails now are, should yield offspring perfeccily fertile 

 inter se, would be rash in the extreme. / 



From these several reasons, namely, — thai improba- 

 bility of man having formerly made seveA or eight 

 supposed species of pigeons to breed freel/y under do- 

 mestication; — these supposed species beiijig quite un- 

 known in a wild state, and their not hajving become 

 anywhere feral;— these species presenting i certain very 

 abnormal characters, as compared withi all other 

 Columbidffi, though so like the rock-pigeon in most 

 respects;— the occasional re-appearance of \ the blue 

 colour and various black marks in all the br^ieds, both 

 when kept pure and when crossed;— and la,stly, the 



