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Show 130 UOMEST[C RABBITS. CIIAI'. IV. . . . erally much 1e ss dc e ply notcheJ. the o ·mpital foramen IS gen. . f the scapula and the than . 'ld l.b' t Ccrtam paits o . h Ill Wl rau I . h. hl variable m s ape. terminal sternal bones have Lccomc Jlg _Yleno-th and Lreadth · d enormous y m b 'L'he cars have L en mcrcase h . . 1 t conJ'oined probal>ly throuo·h contm. ue d se 1c c t'I On.' t eir wmg1d, them to lop down-b h · le~ has cause wW1 the disuse oft mr mu c "' .t. and form of the bony warcls ; and t l1 1·S 1J as a ffec.t cd th.e pobs i wnrr elation the positw· n m· aud1. tor.y mea t us '. and tlns agamb, Y co· tho up' per part of ' t h e . f l st every one m . a shght J.egree o am~. f the condyles of the lower JaW. skull, and even the positiOn o CIIAI!. v. l'JGEONS: DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 131 CHAPTEH V. DOMESTIC PIGEONS. ENUllffiRA'l'ION AND DESCRIP'l'ION OF 'l.'lill SEVEUAL BREEDS- INDIVIDUAL VAIUABILT'l'Y - VAR[A'l'JONS OF A llEUAHT<ABLE NA'I'UHE- OSTEOLOGICAL CHAHAOTERS: i;KULJ,, LOWER JAW, NUMUEI~ OJo' VElt'l'EUR2E - COHRELA'l'ION OF GROWTH: 'l'ONGUE WITH BEAK i EYioi,U)S AND KOS'l'IULS WITH WA'1'1'LED SKIN- NUMBEit OF WTNG·F'EATlilli1S, AND IoloNG'J'H OU' WING- COLOUit AND DOWN-WEBBED AND F'EA'l'IffiHED FEE'!'ON THE EU'Jo'EC'rS Ol!' DI. USE - LENGTH OF FEE'l' IN OORRET,ATION WITU LENGTIT OF BEAR- LENCITII OF STERNUllf, SCAPUJ,A, AND l'URCULA- LE:NGTH OF' WINOSSUMMA LW ON 'l'lill POIN1'S OF Dll'l'EHENCE L'i TilE SEVEHAL BREEDS. I HAVE been led to study domestic pigeons with particulae care, because the evidence that all the domestic races have descended from one known source is far clearer than with any other anciently domesticated animal. Secondly, because many treatises in several languages, some of them old, have been written on the pigeon, so that we are enabled to trace the history of several breeds. And lastly, because, from causes which we can partly understand, the amount of variation bas been extraordinarily great. The details will often be tediously minute; but no one who really wants to understand the progress of change in domestic animals will regret this; and no one who bas kept pigeons and has marked the great difference between the breeds and the trueness with which most of them propagate their kind, will think this care superfluous. Notwithstanding the clear evidence that all the breeds are the descendants of a single species, I could not persuade myself until some years had passed that the whole amount of difference between them had arisen since man first domesticated the wild rock-pigeon. I have kept alive all the most distinct breeds, which I could procure in England or from the Continent; and have prepared skeletons of all. I have received skins from Persia, and a large number from India and other quarters of the ]{ 2 |