| → parent bird of 1859 1860 |
| parent-bird 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
|
| → Many slight differences might, and indeed do now, arise amongst pigeons, which 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| It is known that with pigeons many slight variations now occasionally appear, but these 1872 |
|
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which are first given to him in some slight degree by nature. No man would ever try to make a
till he saw a pigeon with a tail developed in some slight degree in an unusual manner, or a pouter till he saw a pigeon with a crop of somewhat unusual size; and the more abnormal or unusual any character was when it first appeared, the more likely it would be to catch his attention. But to use such an expression as trying to make a fantail, is, I have no doubt, in most cases, utterly
The man who first selected a pigeon with a slightly larger tail, never dreamed what the descendants of that pigeon would become through long-continued, partly unconscious and partly
selection. Perhaps the
→parent bird of
fantails had only fourteen tail-feathers somewhat expanded, like the present Java fantail, or like individuals of other and distinct breeds, in which as many as seventeen tail-feathers have been counted. Perhaps the first pouter-pigeon did not inflate its crop much more than the turbit now does the upper part of its œsophagus, — a habit which is disregarded by all fanciers, as it is not one of the points of the breed. |
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| Nor let it be thought that some great deviation of structure would be necessary to catch the
eye: he perceives extremely small differences, and it is in human nature to value any novelty, however slight, in
own possession. Nor must the value which would formerly
set on any slight differences in the individuals of the same species, be judged of by the value which
now
set on them, after several breeds have
fairly been established.
→Many slight differences might, and indeed do now, arise amongst pigeons, which
are rejected as faults or deviations from the standard of perfection
each breed. The common goose has not given rise to any marked varieties; hence the
and the common breed, which differ only in colour, that
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