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preventing crosses is an important element
in the formation of new races, — at least, in a country which is already stocked with other races. In this respect enclosure of the land plays a part. Wandering savages or the inhabitants of open plains rarely possess more than one breed of the same species. Pigeons can be mated for life, and this is a great convenience to the fancier, for thus many races may be
→improved and kept
true, though mingled in the same aviary; and this circumstance must have largely favoured the
formation of new breeds. Pigeons, I may add, can be propagated in great numbers and at a very quick rate, and inferior birds may be freely rejected, as when killed they serve for food. On the other hand, cats, from their nocturnal rambling habits, cannot be
and, although so much valued by women and children, we
see a distinct breed
up; such breeds as we do sometimes see are almost always imported from some other
Although I do not doubt that some domestic animals vary less than others, yet the rarity or absence of distinct breeds of the cat, the donkey, peacock, goose, &c., may be attributed in main part to selection not having been brought into play: in cats, from the difficulty in pairing
in donkeys, from only a few being kept by poor people, and little attention paid to their breeding;
→for recently in certain parts of Spain and of the United States this animal has been surprisingly modified and improved by careful selection: in
peacocks, from not being very easily reared and a large stock not
in geese, from being valuable only for two purposes, food and feathers, and more especially from no pleasure having been felt in the display of distinct
→breeds; but the goose seems to have a singularly inflexible organisation.
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