28 
DOMESTIC PIGEONS, 
Chap. I. 
of fare in the previous dynasty. In the time of the 
Eomans, as we hear from Pliny, immense prices were 
given for pigeons; nay, they are come to this pass, that 
they can reckon up their pedigree and race.” Pigeons 
were much valued by Akber Khan in India, about the 
year 1600 ; never less than 20,000 pigeons were taken 
with the court. The monarchs of Iran and Turan sent 
him some very rare birdsand, continues the courtly 
historian, “ His Majesty by crossing the breeds, whicli 
method was never practised before, has improved them 
astonishingly.” About this same period the Dutch were 
as eager about pigeons as were the old Eomans. The 
paramount importance of these considerations in ex¬ 
plaining the immense amount of variation which pigeons 
have undergone, will be obvious when we treat of Selec¬ 
tion. We shall then, also, see how it is that the breeds 
so often have a somewhat monstrous character. It is 
also a most favourable circumstance for the production 
of distinct breeds, that male and female pigeons can be 
easily mated for life ; and thus different breeds can be 
kept together in the same aviary. 
I have discussed the probable origin of domestic 
pigeons at some, yet quite insufficient, length; because 
when I first kept pigeons and watched the several kinds, 
knowing well how true they bred, I felt fully as much 
difficulty in believing that they could have descended 
from a common parent, as any naturalist could in coming 
to a similar conclusion in regard to the many species of 
finches, or other large groups of birds, in nature. One 
circumstance has struck me much; namely, that all 
the breeders of the various domestic animals and the 
cultivators of plants, with whom I have ever conversed, 
or whose treatises I have read, are firmly convinced 
that the several breeds to which each has attended, are 
descended from so many aboriginally distinct species. 
