Volume 1

The variation of animals and plants under domestication / by Charles Darwin.

  • Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The variation of animals and plants under domestication / by Charles Darwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    239/498 (page 219)
    said to be very short. Hence either the Jacobin, or the other kinds with which it was then compared, must since that time have been considerably modified; for Moore’s description (and it must be remembered that be was a first-rate judge) is clearly not applicable, as far as size of body and length of beak are concerned, to our present Jacobins. In 1795, juging from Bechstein, the breed had assumed its present character. Turbits.—It has generally been supposed by the older writers on pigeons, that the Turbit is the Cortbeck of Aldrovandi; but if this be the case, it is an extraordinary fact that the characteristic frill should not have been noticed. The beak, moreover, of the Cortbeck is described as closely resembling that of the Jacobin, which shows a change in the one or the other race. The Turbit, with its charac- teristic frill, and bearing its present name, is described by Willughby in 1677; and the bill is said to be like that of the bullfinch,—a good comparison, but now more strictly applicable to the beak of the Barb. The sub-breed called the Owl was well known in Moore’s time, in 1735, Tumblers— Common Tumblers, as well as Ground Tumblers, perfect as far as tumbling is concerned, existed in India before the year 1600; and at this period diversified modes of flight, such as flying at night, the ascent to a great height, and manner of descent, seem to have been much attended to in India, as at the present time. Belon40 in 1555 saw in Taphlagonia what he describes as “ a very new thing, viz. pigeons which flew so high in the air that they were lost to view, but returned to their pigeon-house without separating. This manner of flight is characteristic of our present Tumblers, but it is clear that Belon would have mentioned the act of tumbling if the pigeons described by him had tumbled. Tumblers were not known in Europe in 1600, as they are not mentioned by Aldrovandi, who discusses the flight of pigeons. They are briefly alluded to by Willughby, in 1687, as small pigeons “ which show like footballs in the air.” The short-faced race did not exist at this period, as Willughby could not have overlooked birds so remarkable for their small size and short beaks. We can even trace some of the steps by which this race has been produced. Moore in 1735 enumerates correctly the chief points of excellence, but does not give any de- scription of the several sub-breeds; and from this fact Mr. Eaton infers41 that the Short-faced Tumbler had not then come to full perfection. Moore even speaks of the Jacobin as being the smallest pigeon. Thirty years afterwards, in 1765, in the Treatise dedicated to Mayor, short-faced Almond Tumblers are fully described, but the author, an excellent fancier, expressly states in his Preface (p. xiv.) that, “ from great care and expense in breeding them, they have arrived to so great perfection and are so different from what they were 20 or 30 years past, that an old fancier would have condemned 40 ‘L’Histoire de la Nature des 41 ‘Treatise on Pigeons,’ 1852, p. Oiseaui,’ p. 314. 64.