most cases, utterly incorrect. 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, selection. Perhaps the parent bird 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 oesophagus--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 fancier's eye: he perceives extremely small
differences, and it is in human nature to value any novelty, however
slight, in one's own possession. Nor must the value which would formerly
have been set on any slight differences in the individuals of the same
species, be judged of by the value which is now set on them, after
several breeds have fairly been established. It is known that with
pigeons many slight variations now occasionally appear, but these are
rejected as faults or deviations from the standard of perfection in
each breed. The common goose has not given rise to any marked varieties;
hence the 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.

These views appear to explain what has sometimes been noticed, namely,
that we know hardly anything 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 said to have a distinct origin. A man preserves and breeds
from an individual with some slight deviation of structure, or takes
more care than usual in matching his best animals, and thus improves
them, and the improved animals slowly spread in the immediate
neighbourhood. But they will as yet hardly have a distinct name,
and from being only slightly valued, their history will have been
disregarded. When further improved by the same slow and gradual process,
they will spread more widely, and will be recognised as something
distinct and valuable, and will then probably first receive a provincial
name. In semi-civilised countries, with little free communication, the
spreading of