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Show 206 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. CHAP. VI. Mr. Blyth, the inhabitants of Delhi and of some other great cities arc cacrer fanciers. Mr. Layard informs me that most of the lmow1~ urceds are kept in Ceylon. In China, according to 1\fr. Swinltoc of Amoy, and Dr. ~_Jo~khart of Shang.ai, carriers, fantails, tumblers, and other vanett s are reared w1th care, especially by the bonzes or priests. T.hc ?binese fasten a kind of whii::itlc to the tail-feathers of thmr pigeons, and as the flock wheels through tho air they produce a sweet sound. In Egypt the late Abbtts Pacha was a groat fancier of fantails. Many pigeons are kept at Cairo and Constantinople, and these have lately been imported by native merchants, as l hear from Sir vV. Elliot, into 'outhern India, and olu at high prices. The foregoing tatements show in how many countries, and during how long a period, many men have been passionately devoted to th breeding of pigeons. near how an enthusiastic fancier at tho pre ·ent day writes: "If it were possible for noblem nand g 'ntlemon to know the amazing amount of solace and pleasure derivctl from Almond Tumblers, when they begin to understand their proportie , l should think that scarce any nobleman or gentleman would be without their aviaries of Almond Tumblers." 3 ~ The pleasure thus taken is of paramount importance, as it leads amateurs carefully to note and preserve each slight deviation of tructure which strikes their fancy. Pigeons are often elos 'ly confined during their whole lives; they do not partake of their natmally varied diet; they have often been transported from on climate to another; and all these changes in their conditions of life would be likely to cause variability. Pigeons have been domesticated for nearly 5000 years, and have been k pt in many places, so that the numbers reared under domestication must have been enormons; and tl1is is another circumstance of high importance, for it obviously favours the cha11ce of rare modifications of structure occasionally appearing. Slight variations of all l:inds would almost eertainly be observed, and, if valued, would, owing to the following circumstance., be pro crvecl and propagated with unusual facility. Pigeons, differently from any other domesticated animal, can easily be mnted for life, and, though kept with other pigeons, they rar ly prove unfaithful to each other. Even when the 30 J. M. Eaton, 'Treatise on the Almond Tumbler,' 1851; Preface, p. vi. CnAP, VI. lllSTORY OF TilE PRINCIPAL RACES. 207 male does break his marriage-vow, he does not permanently desert hi mate. I have bred in the same aviaries many pigeons of different kinds, and never roared a single bird of an impure strain. Hence a fancier can with the greatest ease select and match hii::l birds. Tie will also soon see the go~d results of his care; for pigeons breed with extraordinary rapidity. He may freely reject inferior birds, as they serve at an early age as exc llent food. To sum up, pigeons are easily kept, paired, and selected; vast numbers have been reared; great zeal in breeding them has been shown by many men in various countries · and this. would lu~d. to their close discrimination, and to a s~rong desire to exhibit some novelty, or to surpass other fanciers in the excellence of already established breeds. History of the principal Races of the Pigeon.aa · Before rusc~ss~g the means and stops by which tho chief races have ?con fOI"mod, rt w1ll. be advisable to give some historical details, for more IS l~own o~ .tho hist~ry of tho pigeon, tittle though this be, than of any other domestiCated ammal. Some of tho cases arc interesting as . · ho w. 1o ng d omos t' · t' piOvmg 10 vane ws may bo propagated with exactly the samo or ncail~ the sa~o characters; ~nd other cases arc still more interesting as showm~ how slow~y but stead1ly races have been greatly modified durinO' successive gonoratwns. In the last chapter I stated that T t d Laughcrs, both so remarkable for their voices seem to have \~mcnpc o~f~ atnl cha ·acto·· d · 173r.: d ' P01 ec Y I nzo m u; an Laughers wore apparently known . I ru bcfor~ tho year 1600. Spots in 1676, and Nuns in the time o:UAl~ro~ vandi, before 1600, wore coloured exactly as they now arc c Tumblers and Gro~nd Tumblers exhibited in India, bof01:0 th~ yea~·~~~; the same oxtraordmary peculiarities of flight as at the present d £ ~ they arc well described in tho 'Ayoon Akbory' Those b. d ay, OI have existed for a much longer period . we know. only tb t tihoo s may all foctly cl te · d t h d ' a oy were per-lar~ c · ~·1zc ~ t o atos above given. The average length of life of the domestic p1g~on IS probably about five or six years; if so, some of these races h.avo rotamcd their character perfectly for at least forty or fift goneratwns. y l~onters.-Those birds, as far as a very short description serves for comi~~~~:;. ~~6~ari~ have b~on well characterized in Aldrovandi's time,3'7 before t h. f . · t ~gth of body and length of log arc at the present time the e~~~~)c-po~ ~of. excellence. In 1735.Mooro said (see Mr. J. M. Eaton's an ooie was a first-rate fancwr-that he once saw a bird with 3o As in the following discussion I often speak of tho present time I should state that this chapter ~vas completed in the year 1858. ~7 'Omithologie,' 1600, vol. ii. p. 360. |