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Show 196 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. CHAP. VI. of any colom, but if the wiuo·-coverts alone arc blue, tho two blade bars surely app 'ar. I 11 ba ve royse lf s?en, 01.• acq.u ir d trust-worthy oviclcnce, as o·ivcn below/'' of blue bmh; w1th black bars on the wino- with the croup ithor white or very palo or dark blue, with th~' tail havino· a terminal black bar, and with the outer b d . £ ather externally edged with white or very pale .coloure , m tho followirw ra ·cs \vhich as I carefully observed m each case, appeared tob be pe'r fectly ' pure: namely, in Pouters, Fantm' ls , TllruLlers, Jaeobim-J, Turbits, Barbs, Carriers, Hunts of three distinct varieti s, rrrumpctcrs, Swallows, and in many other toy-pigeons, which, as being closely allied to 0. livia, arc not "·orth enumerating. Thus we sec that, in purely-bred races of every kind lmown in Europ , blue birds oecasionally app~ar having all the mu.rks which characterise 0. livia, and whiCh concur in no other wild pccies. lVIr. Blyth, also, has made the S<1me ob crvation with respect to the various domestic races known in India. Certain variations in the plumage arc equally common in the wild 0. ltvia, in dovecot-pigeons, and in all the most highly mouificd races. Thu , in all, the croup varies from white to 2>1 I have observed blue birds with fill tho abov -mentioned marks in the followinf?; races, which seemed to be perfectly pure, 1111<1 wore shown o,t various cxl1ibitions. Pouters, with tho double blnck wing-bnrs, with white crour, dn rk bar to end of tail, and white edging to outer tnil r albers. 'I'mbits, with all these same cl1arncters. F(lntails, witlt tlio S(lmo; but tho croup in some wa· blui~h or pure blue: Mr. Wicking brl'd blue fnnlnils f1om two blo,ck birds. Cnrliers (including tlio Bagadottcn of :Ncttmoistcr ), with all tho marks: two birds which I Pxamin d hatl white, and two had blue croups; the wllito edging to the outer tail-fo:\fhors was not preson tin o.ll. Mr. Corker, a groat breeder, assures me that, if black carriers arc. matehed for many successive generations, tho ofl~pring broome first ashcoloured, and then blue with black wingbars. Hunt of tho olougatod brpod llfld tho same marks, but tho croup W1LS palo blue; tho outer tail-feathers bad white edges. Neumeister figures the great Florence Runt of ~ blue colour with black bars. J acobins are very ro.roly blue, but I have received authentic accounts of at least two instances of the blue variety wilh black bars having appeared in Euglanu : blue jacobins wore bred by Mr. Brent f1·om two black birds. I have soon common tumblers, both Indian o,ud J~nglish, a11d short-faced tumblers, of o. blue colour, wHit black wincr-bars, with tho black bar o,t tho end of tho tail, ftncl with tho outer iail-foatlters edged with white; tho croup in all was blue, or extremely palo blue, never absolutely white. Blue bnrbs o,nd trumpeters seem to be excessively rare; but Noumoi ter, who may bo implicitly trusted, figures blue varieties of both, with blnck wing-bars. Mr. Brent informs me tltat ho has seen a blue barb ; and Mr. H. Weir, as I am informed by Mr. Togotmeior, once bred a silver (which mco,ns very pale blue) barb from two yellow birds. CnAP. VI. TIIEIR REVERSION IN COLOUR. 197 blue, being most frequently white in Europe, and very generally blue in Inclia.25 W c have seen that tho wild 0. livia in Europe, ancl dovecots in all parts of tho world, often have the upper wing-cov rts chcquered with black; and all tho. mot distinct ·races, when blue, are occasionally chcquored in precisely tho same manner. Thus I have seen Pouters, Fantail., Carriers, Turbits, Tumblers (Indian and English), Swallows, Bald-pates, and other toy-pigeons blue and chcqucrcd ; and Mr. Esquilant has seen a chcqucred Runt. I bred from two pure blue Tumblers a chcqucrcd bird. The facts hitherto given refer to tho occasional appearance in pure races of blue birds with black wing-bars, and likewise of blue and chequercd birds; but it will now be seen that when two birJs belonging to distinct races are crossed, neither of which have, nor probably have had during many generations, a trace of blue in their plumage, or a trace of wing-bars and the other characteristic marks, they very frequently produce mongrel offspring of a Llue colour, sometimes chequered, with black wing-bars, &c. ; or if not of a blue colour, yet with the several characteristic marks more or less plainly developed. I was led to invc tigate this subject from MM. Boitard and Corbie 26 having asserted that from crosses between certain breeds it is rare to get anything but bisets or dovecot-pigeons, which, as we know, are blue birds with the usual characteristic marks. We shall hereafter sec that this su~ject possesses, jndependently of our present object, considerable interest, so that I will give the results of my own trials in full. I selected for experiment races which, when pure, very seldom produce birds of a blue colour, or have bars on their wings and tail. The nun is white, with the head, tail, and primary wingfeathers black; it is a breed which was established as long ago 25 Mr. Blyth informs me that•au tho domestic races in India have the croup blue; but this is not invariable, for I possess a very pale blue Simmali pigeon with tho croup perfectly white, sent to me by Sir W. Elliot from Madms. A slo.ty-blue and ch querod Nakshi pigeon has some white feathers on the croup alone. In some other Indian pigeons thoro were a few white foo.thors confined to tho croup, o.nd I have noticed tho same tact in a carrier from P r ia. 'l'he Java fantail (importr.d into Amoy, o,nd thence sout mo) has a perfectly white croup. 26 'Les Pigeons,' &c., p. 37. |