I 
12 
CENTRAL HALL. 
Group of 
Pigeons illus- 
trating 
Variation 
under Domes- 
tication. 
Groups of 
Fowls and 
Canaries 
illustrating 
Variation 
under Domes- 
tication. 
Group of Euffs 
and Beeves, 
illustrating 
Changes of 
Plumage 
according to 
8ez and 
Season. 
One group, in a case near the entrance to the hall, on the 
right, shows the great variation to which a species may become 
subject under the influence of domestication, as illustrated by 
choice examples of the best-marked breeds of Pigeons, all of 
which have been derived by careful selection from the wild 
Eock Dove (Columha livia), specimens of which are shown at 
the top of the case. 
In the corresponding case on the left are further illustrations 
of the same subject. A pair of the Common Jungle Fowl of 
India shows what is generally considered to be the original form 
from which all the various breeds of domesticated fowls are 
derived. As examples of two of the most extreme modifica- 
tions in opposite directions which have been produced by 
artificial selection, are the Japanese Long-tailed Fowls, in which 
some of the feathers (coverts) have attained a length of nine 
feet, and specimens of another breed kept in many parts of 
Europe in which the tail is entirely absent. There is also 
shown a group of Fowls which now live in a wild state in the 
woods of the Fiji Islands, but are descendants from domesticated 
owls introduced by the early voyagers of the eighteenth century. 
A pair of Cochin Fowls is also exhibited in the same case, in 
order to display development in point of size and in the 
abundance of feathers on the limbs ; while a pair of white 
" Silkies " illustrates a peculiar modification of the plumage, 
accompanied by a rudimentary condition of the tail-feathers. 
The pair of Coloured Dorkings exemplifies a breed largely 
cultivated in England. 
A series of Canaries is likewise shown in this case, as an 
example of one of the most recent additions to our stock of 
domesticated animals, these birds having been first imported 
into Europe from the Canary Islands in the early part of the 
sixteenth century. Specimens are exhibited of the wild birds, 
and of some of the most striking modifications which have been 
produced by cultivation through many generations. 
A case placed to the north of this illustrates a remarkable 
instance of external differences in the two sexes and changes in 
plumage at different seasons, not under the influence of domestica- 
tion. The birds in it belong to one species, the Ruff (Pavoncella, 
or Machetes, piignax), of which the female is called Eeeve; a 
