The TOUHG HATUEAUST: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 122. 



MAECH llTH, 1882. 



Vol. 3. 



DARWINISM. 



Fifth Paper. 



SELECTION BY MAN. 



SO far we have spoken only in gen- 

 eral terms of what may result from 

 natural selection or from selection by 

 man under domestication. It will be well 

 before we leave this branch of the sub- 

 ject to speak more particularly of what 

 has actually been done. Mr. Darwin for 

 many years reared pigeons that he 

 might study their changes of form more 

 closely. We will therefore illustrate 

 the point by reference to domestic 

 pigeons, and that it may be better 

 understood we will give a plate (6), on 

 which are depicted some of the more 

 striking forms of these birds as now 

 existing. It is generally understood 

 that all races of the domestic pigeon 

 have sprung from the Elue Rock, or 

 Rock Pigeon (Fig. 1, PI. 6), a not un- 

 common bird in many parts of the 

 country. Mr. Darwin argues at some 

 length on the orgin of our domestic 

 birds, and shows that if they have not 

 all sprung from the Blue Rock {C.livias^ 

 they must have sprung from other 

 pigeons that were not arboreal in their 

 habits. But there are only three or 



four other rock pigeons known '* and 

 these have not any of the characters of 

 the domestic breeds," Besides this the 

 common domestic pigeon has often 

 escaped in numbers, and has been 

 known to join the Rock pigeon, fly 

 with it, feed with it, and nest with it. 

 The common Skemy is but one remove 

 from the wild bird, and had the other 

 forms sprung from some other pigeon, 

 equal opportunities have been afforded 

 for them joining their ancestors as 

 these have done, in other parts 

 of the world, to which the various 

 domestic races have been exported. 

 Mr. Darwin points out also that our 

 best marked forms — the carrier (Fig. 6 , 

 PI. 6), the tumbler, the jacobin 

 (Fig. 4, PI. 6), the pouter (Fig. 

 5, PL 6), or the fantail (Fig. 2, PI. 6), 

 do not in their distinguishing character- 

 istics resemble any known race of wild 

 pigeon; and, therefore, if they had 

 been originally reared from distinct 

 species, all these extraordinary abnor- 

 mal species have died out since, So 

 many strange contingencies are improb- 

 able in the highest degree." He des- 

 cribes the colour and markings of the 

 Rock pigeon. Some of the peculiarities 

 are shared by other wild birds, but 

 there are certain marks that do not 



