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Show CHAP. I. 26 DO MESTIC PIGEONS. t has within a dozen or, that each ~re~ d' eve n the fp ureense r' ations, been crosse d b y at most, Within a score ~ th f? a dozen or twenty gene~a-the rock-pigeon: I s~y :01 fa:: countenancing the belief tions, for we know o to some one ancestor, remo~ed that the child ever reverts t' In a breed whiCh b of genera 1ons. h by a greater num er . th orne distinct breed, t e has been crossed only once Wlh sacter derived from such · to any c ar tendency to reversion 1 and less, as in each sue-cross will natur~lly becomk ~=less of the foreign blood ; ceeding generatiOn there w I'th a distinct breed' h b en no cross w but when there as e . b th parents to revert to a and there is .a ten~e:ecin l~st o during some former genecharacter, which ha £ ll that we can see to the ration, this tendency' ?r ad d' inished for an indefi-b t ansm1tte un liD co. ntrary, bm ayo f ge enr era t1' ons. These two distinct cases are n1te num er . tises on inheritance. often confounded l~ trea rels from between all the Lastly, the hybrids or mong erfectly fertile. I can domestic breeds of pigeonsbare Pt. s purposely made . n 0 serva 1on , state this from. ~y ow Now it is difficult, per-on the most distinct breeds. d ' of the hybrid . b . forwar one case haps ~mpossible, t~ rrngelearl distinct being themselves offspring of t':o animal: auth~rs believe that long-conperfectly fert~e. . Som iminates this strong tendency ~ tinned domestiCation ~1 h d I think there IS sterility : from the ~to~ oft~ e. 'applied to species some probability in this ~po h e~~s, is unsupported by a closely related together, t oug tl d the hypothesis so si. ngle experi.m ent . But to. ex ebn . . lly as di.s ti.n c t th t peCles a ongina far as to suppose a s ' d -"antails now are, . t bl rs pouters, an 1 : as earners, um .e ' £ 1 £ t'le inter se, seems to should yield offspring per ect y er 1 ' me rash in the extreme. the im robability From these several reasons, namely, ~ i hf supposed of man having formerly got seven or e g CHAP. I. DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 27 species of pigeons to breed freely under domestication; these supposed species being quite unknown in a wild state, and their becoming nowhere feral ; these species having very abnormal characters in certain respects, as compared with all other Columbidre, though so like in most other respects to the rock-pigeon; the blue colour and various marks occasionally appearing in all the breeds, both when kept pure and when crossed ; the mongrel offspring being perfectly fertile ; -from these several reasons, taken together, I can feel no doubt that all our domestic breeds have descended from the Columba livia with its geographical sub-species. In favour of tlus view, I may add, firstly, that C. livia, or the rock-pigeon, has been found capable of domestication in Europe and in India ; and that it agrees in habits and in a great number of points of structure with aU the domestic breeds. Secondly, although an English carrier or short-faced tumbler differs immensely in certain characters from the rock-pigeon, yet by comparing the several sub-breeds of these breeds, more especially those brought from distant countries, we can make an almost perfect series between the extremes of structure. Thirdly, those characters which are mainly distinctive of each breed, for instance the wattle and length of beak of the ·carrier, the shortness of that of the tumbler, and the number of tail-feathers in the fantail, are in each breed eminently variable ; and the explanation of this fact will be obvious when we come to treat of selection. Fourthly, pigeons have been watched, and tended with the utmost care, and loved by many people. They have been domesticated for thousands of years in several quarters of the world ; the earliest known record of pigeons is in the fifth ~gyptian dynasty, about 3000 B.c., as was pointed out to me by Professor Lepsius ; but Mr. Birch informs me that pigeons are given in a bill c2 |
