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Show 186 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. CIIAP. VI. which originally came from tho S. Nat~as Isla~ds in ~he Malay ~rchipdlago, and which had boon crossed With the Smgap?Ie dovecot~, they wore small, and the darkest variety was extremely like the da~k cho-qucre d van·e t y Wl'tl1 ,a blue ci·oup from Ma. deira; but the. beak was not so thin, though decidedly thinner than m the rock-p1gcon. from the Shetland Islands. A dovecot-pigeon sent to me by ~r. S":mhoo from Foochow, in China, was likewise rather sma~l, but d1ffcrcd m ~o other respect. I have also received, through tho kmdness of Dr. Darnell, four living dovecot-pigeons from Sierra Leone; ~7 these. were fully as large as the Shetland rock-pigeon, with even bulkier bodws. In .plumage so~e of them were identical with the Shetland rock-pigeon, but with tho mctallw tints apparently rather more brilliant; othc~·s ~ad ~ blue croup and resembled tho chcqucrcd variety of 0. intermedta of India; and some were so much chcqucred as to be nearly black. In these four birds tho b?ak differed lightly in length, but in all it was decidedly shorter, more massiv.o, and stronger than in tho wild rock-pigeon fl'om tho Shetland Islands, or m tho English dovecot. When tho beaks of thosa African pigeons were compared with tho thinnest beaks of tho wild Madeira specimens, the contrast was groat; the former being fully one-third thicker in a vertical direction than tho latter; so that any one at :fhst would have felt inclined to rank tho c birds as specifically distinct ; yet so perfectly graduated a series could be formed bctwcon the above-mentioned vqrieties, that it was obviously impossible to separate them. To sum up: the wild Columba livia, including under this name C. affinis, intermedia, and tho other still more closoly-a:ffined geographical races, has a vast range from the southern coast of Norway and the Faroe Islands to the shores of the Mediterranean, to 1\iadeira and the Canary Islands, to Abyssinia, India, and Japan. It varies greatly in plumage, being in many places chcquercd with black, and having either a white or blue croup or loins ; it varies also slightly in the size of the beak and body. Dovecot-pigeons, which no one disputes are descended from one or more of the above wild forms, present a similar but greater range of variation in plumage, in the size of body, and in the length and thickness of the beak. There seems to be some relation between tho croup being blue or white, and .. the temperature of the country inhabited by both wild and <lovecot pigeons ; for nearly all the dovecot-pigeons in the northern parts of Europe have a white croup, like that of the wild European 17 Domestic pigeons of tho common kind arc mentioned as being pretty numerous in John Barbut's 'Description of tho Coast of Guinea' (p. 215), published in 17 46 ; they are said, in accordance with the name which they bear, to ho.vo boon imported. CnAP. VI. THEIR PARENTAGE. 187 rock-pigeon; and nearly all the dovecot-pige?ns of I~dia have. a blue croup like that of the wild C. intermedw of India. ·As m various countries the wild rock-pigeon has been found e~sy to tame, it seems extremely probable that the dovecot-pigeons throughout the world are the descendants of at leas~ two and perhaps more wild stocks, but th so, as we have JUSt seen, cannot be ranked as specificaHy distinct. . With respect to the variation of C. ~ivia, we. may w1th?ut fear of contradiction go one step further. rhose plgeon-fanClers who believe that all the chief races, such as Carriers, Pouters, Fantails, &c., are descended from distinct aboriginal stocks, yet admit that the so-called toy-pigeons, which differ from the rockpigeon in little except in colour, are descended from this bird. By toy-pigeons are meant such birds as Spots, Nuns, Helmets, Swallows, Priests, Monks, Porcelains, Swabians, Archangels, Breasts, Shields, and others in Europe, and many others in India. It would indeed be as puerile to suppose that all these birds are descended from so many distinct wild stocks as to suppose this to be the case with the many varieties of the gooseberry, heartsease, or dahlia. Yet these pigeons all · breed true, and many of them present sub-varieties which likewise truly transmit their character. They differ greatly from each other and from the rock-pigeon in plumage, slightly in size and proportions of body, in size of feet, and in the length and thickness of their beaks. They differ from each other in these respects more than do dovecot-pigeons. Although we may safely admit that the latter, which vary slightly, and that the toy-pigeons, which vary in a greater degree in accordance with their more highly-domesticated condition, are descended from C. livia, including under this name the aboveenumerated wild geographical races; yet the question becomes far more difficult when we consider the eleven principal races, most of which have been so profoundly modified. It can, however, be shown, by indirect evidence of a perfectly conclusive nature, that these principal races are not descended from so many wild stocks; and if this be once admitted, few will dispute that they are the descendants of 0. livia, which agrees with them so closely in habits and in most characters, which varies in a state of nature, and which has certainly under- |