t is in India. Even in the case of the breeds of the
domestic dog throughout the world, which I admit are descended from
several wild species, it cannot be doubted that there has been an
immense amount of inherited variation; for who will believe that animals
closely resembling the Italian greyhound, the bloodhound, the bull-dog,
pug-dog, or Blenheim spaniel, etc.--so unlike all wild Canidae--ever
existed in a state of nature? It has often been loosely said that all
our races of dogs have been produced by the crossing of a few
aboriginal species; but by crossing we can only get forms in some degree
intermediate between their parents; and if we account for our several
domestic races by this process, we must admit the former existence of
the most extreme forms, as the Italian greyhound, bloodhound, bull-dog,
etc., in the wild state. Moreover, the possibility of making distinct
races by crossing has been greatly exaggerated. Many cases are on record
showing that a race may be modified by occasional crosses if aided
by the careful selection of the individuals which present the desired
character; but to obtain a race intermediate between two quite distinct
races would be very difficult. Sir J. Sebright expressly experimented
with this object and failed. The offspring from the first cross between
two pure breeds is tolerably and sometimes (as I have found with
pigeons) quite uniform in character, and every thing seems simple
enough; but when these mongrels are crossed one with another for several
generations, hardly two of them are alike, and then the difficulty of
the task becomes manifest.

BREEDS OF THE DOMESTIC PIGEON, THEIR DIFFERENCES AND ORIGIN.

Believing that it is always best to study some special group, I have,
after deliberation, taken up domestic pigeons. I have kept every breed
which I could purchase or obtain, and have been most kindly favoured
with skins from several quarters of the world, more especially by the
Hon. W. Elliot from India, and by the Hon. C. Murray from Persia. Many
treatises in different languages have been published on pigeons, and
some of them are very important, as being of considerable antiquity. I
have associated with several eminent fanciers, and have been permitted
to join two of the London Pigeon Clubs. The diversity of the breeds is
something astonishing. Compare the English carrier and the short-faced
tumbler, and see the wonderful difference in their beaks, entailing
corresponding