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parent-bird 1861 1866 1869 1872
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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

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
incorrect.
in-correct.
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
methodical,
methodical
selection. Perhaps the parent-bird
all
of all
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.
Nor let it be thought that some great deviation of structure would be necessary to catch the
fanciers
fancier's
eye: he perceives extremely small differences, and it is in human nature to value any novelty, however slight, in
ones
one's
own possession. Nor must the value which would formerly
have been
be
set on any slight differences in the individuals of the same species, be judged of by the value which
is
would
now
be
be
set on them, after several breeds have
once
once
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
in
of
each breed. The common goose has not given rise to any marked varieties; hence the
Thoulouse
Toulouse
and the common breed, which differ only in colour, that most fleeting of characters, have lately been exhibited as distinct at our poultry-shows.
I think
I think
These
these
views
appear to
further
further
explain what has sometimes been noticed —
namely
namely,
that we know
hardly anything
nothing
about the origin or history of any of our domestic breeds. But, in fact, a breed, like a dialect of a language, can hardly be