An argument of great weight, and applicable in several other cases, is,
that the above-specified breeds, though agreeing generally with the wild
rock-pigeon in constitution, habits, voice, colouring, and in most parts of
their structure, yet are certainly highly abnormal in other parts; we may
look in vain through the whole great family of Columbidae for a beak like
that of the English carrier, or that of the short-faced tumbler, or barb;
for reversed feathers like those of the Jacobin; for a crop like that of
the pouter; for tail-feathers like those of the fantail. Hence it must be
assumed, not only that half-civilized man succeeded in thoroughly
domesticating several species, but that he intentionally or by chance
picked out extraordinarily abnormal species; and further, that these very
species have since all become extinct or unknown. So many strange
contingencies are improbable in the highest degree.
Some facts in regard to the colouring of pigeons well deserve
consideration. The rock-pigeon is of a slaty-blue, with white loins; but
the Indian sub-species, C. intermedia of Strickland, has this part bluish.
The tail has a terminal dark bar, with the outer feathers externally edged
at the base with white. The wings have two black bars. Some semi-domestic
breeds, and some truly wild breeds, have, besides the two black bars, the
wings chequered with black. These several marks do not occur together in
any other species of the whole family.
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