Chapter VI: PIGEONS—continued (3)

[19] I have drawn out a long table of the various crosses made by fanciers between the several domestic breeds but I do not think it worth while publishing. I have myself made for this special purpose many crosses, and all were perfectly fertile. I have united in one bird five of the most distinct races, and with patience I might undoubtedly have thus united all. The case of five distinct breeds being blended together with unimpaired fertility is important, because Gärtner has shown that it is a very general, though not, as he thought, universal rule, that complex crosses between several species are excessively sterile. I have met with only two or three cases of reported sterility in the offspring of certain races when crossed. Pistor (‘Das Ganze der Feldtaubenzucht,’ 1831, s. 15) asserts that the mongrels from Barbs and Fantails are sterile: I have proved this to be erroneous, not only by crossing those hybrids with several other hybrids of the same parentage, but by the more severe test of pairing brother and sister hybrids _inter se,_ and they were _perfectly_ fertile. Temminck has stated (‘Hist. Nat. Gén. des Pigeons,’ tom. i. p. 197) that the Turbit or Owl will not cross readily with other breeds: but my Turbits crossed, when left free with Almond Tumblers and with Trumpeters; the same thing has occurred (Rev. E. S. Dixon, ‘The Dovecote,’ p. 107) between Turbits and Dovecots and Nuns. I have crossed Turbits with Barbs, as has M. Boitard (p. 34), who says the hybrids were very fertile. Hybrids from a Turbit and Fantail have been known to breed _inter se_ (Riedel, ‘Taubenzucht,’ s. 25, and Bechstein, ‘Naturgesch. Deutsch.,’ B. iv. s. 44. Turbits (Riedel, s. 26) have been crossed with Pouters and with Jacobins, and with a hybrid Jacobin-trumpeter (Riedel, s. 27). The latter author has, however, made some vague statements (s. 22) on the sterility of Turbits when crossed with certain other crossed breeds. But I have little doubt that the Rev. E. S. Dixon’s explanation of such statements is correct, viz. that individual birds both with Turbits and other breeds are occasionally sterile.

[20] ‘Das Ganze der Taubenzucht,’ s. 18.

[21] ‘Les Pigeons,’ etc., p. 35.

[22] Domestic pigeons pair readily with the allied _C. œnas_ (Bechstein, ‘Naturgesch. Deutschlands,’ B. iv. s. 3); and Mr. Brent has made the same cross several times in England, but the young were very apt to die at about ten days old; one hybrid which he reared (from _C. œnas_ and a male Antwerp Carrier) paired with a Dragon, but never laid eggs. Bechstein further states (s. 26) that the domestic pigeon will cross with _C. palumbus, Turtur risoria,_ and _T. vulgaris,_ but nothing is said of the fertility of the hybrids, and this would have been mentioned had the fact been ascertained. In the Zoological Gardens (MS. report to me from Mr. James Hunt) a male hybrid from _Turtur vulgaris_ and a domestic pigeon “paired with several different species of pigeons and doves, but none of the eggs were good.” Hybrids from _C. œnas_ and _gymnophthalmos_ were sterile. In Loudon’s ‘Mag. of Nat. Hist.,’ vol. vii. 1834, p. 154, it is said that a male hybrid (from _Turtur vulgaris_ male, and the cream-coloured _T. risoria_ female) paired during two years with a female _T. risoria,_ and the latter laid many eggs, but all were sterile. MM. Boitard and Corbié (‘Les Pigeons,’ p. 235) state that the hybrids from these two turtle-doves are invariably sterile both _inter se_ and with either pure parent. The experiment was tried by M. Corbié “avec une espèce d’obstination;” and likewise by M. Mauduyt, and by M. Vieillot. Temminck also found the hybrids from these two species quite barren. Therefore, when Bechstein (‘Naturgesch. Deutschlands Vögel,’ B. iv. s. 101) asserts that the hybrids from these two turtle-doves propagate _inter se_ equally well with pure species, and when a writer in the ‘Field’ newspaper (in a letter dated Nov. 10th, 1858) makes a similar assertion, it would appear that there must be some mistake; though what the mistake is I know not, as Bechstein at least must have known the white _variety_ of _T. risoria_: it would be an unparalleled fact if the same two species sometimes produced _extremely_ fertile, and sometimes _extremely_ barren, offspring. In the MS. report from the Zoological Gardens it is said that hybrids from _Turtur vulgaris_ and _ suratensis,_ and from _T. vulgaris_ and _Ectopistes migratorius,_ were sterile. Two of the latter male hybrids paired with their pure parents, viz. _Turtur vulgaris_ and the Ectopistes, and likewise with _T. risoria_ and with _ Columba œnas,_ and many eggs were produced, but all were barren. At Paris, hybrids have been raised (Isid. Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, ‘Hist. Nat. Générale,’ tom. iii. p. 180) from _Turtur auritus_ with _T. cambayensis_ and with _T. suratensis_; but nothing is said of their fertility. At the Zoological Gardens of London the _Goura coronata_ and _victoriæ_ produced a hybrid which paired with the pure _G. coronata,_ and laid several eggs, but these proved barren. In 1860 _Columba gymnophthalmos_ and _maculosa_ produced hybrids in these same gardens.

[23] There is one exception to the rule, namely, in a sub-variety of the Swallow of German origin, which is figured by Neumeister, and was shown to me by Mr. Wicking. This bird is blue, but has not the black wing-bars; for our object, however, in tracing the descent of the chief races, this exception signifies the less as the Swallow approaches closely in structure to _C. livia._ In many sub-varieties the black bars are replaced by bars of various colours. The figures given by Neumeister are sufficient to show that, if the wings alone are blue, the black wing-bars appear.

[24] I have observed blue birds with all the above-mentioned marks in the following races, which seemed to be perfectly pure, and were shown at various exhibitions. Pouters, with the double black wing-bars, with white croup, dark bar to end of tail, and white edging to outer tail-feathers. Turbits, with all these same characters. Fantails with the same; but the croup in some was bluish or pure blue. Mr. Wicking bred blue Fantails from two black birds. Carriers (including the Bagadotten of Neumeister) with all the marks: two birds which I examined had white, and two had blue croups; the white edging to the outer tail-feathers was not present in all. Mr. Corker, a great breeder, assures me that, if black carriers are matched for many successive generations, the offspring become first ash-coloured, and then blue with black wing-bars. Runts of the elongated breed had the same marks, but the croup was pale blue; the outer tail-feathers had white edges. Neumeister figures the great Florence Runt of a blue colour with black bars. Jacobins are very rarely blue, but I have received authentic accounts of at least two instances of the blue variety with black bars having appeared in England; blue Jacobins were bred by Mr. Brent from two black birds. I have seen common Tumblers, both Indian and English, and Short-faced Tumblers, of a blue colour, with black wing-bars, with the black bar at the end of the tail, and with the outer tail-feathers edged with white; the croup in all was blue, or extremely pale blue, never absolutely white. Blue Barbs and Trumpeters seem to be excessively rare; but Neumeister, who may be implicitly trusted, figures blue varieties of both, with black wing-bars. Mr. Brent informs me that he has seen a blue Barb; and Mr. H. Weir, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, once bred a silver (which means very pale blue) Barb from two yellow birds.

[25] Mr. Blyth informs me that all the domestic races in India have the croup blue; but this is not invariable, for I possess a very pale blue Simmali pigeon with the croup perfectly white, sent to me by Sir W. Elliot from Madras. A slaty-blue and chequered Nakshi pigeon has some white feathers on the croup alone. In some other Indian pigeons there were a few white feathers confined to the croup, and I have noticed the same fact in a carrier from Persia. The Java Fantail (imported into Amoy, and thence sent me) has a perfectly white croup.

[26] ‘Les Pigeons,’ etc., p. 37.

[27] ‘Treatise on Pigeons,’ 1858, p. 145.

[28] J. Moore’s ‘Columbarium,’ 1735; in J. M. Eaton’s edition, 1852, p. 71.

[29] I could give numerous examples; two will suffice. A mongrel, whose four grandparents were a white Turbit, white Trumpeter, white Fantail, and blue Pouter, was white all over, except a very few feathers about the head and on the wings, but the whole tail and tail-coverts were dark bluish-grey. Another mongrel whose four grandparents were a red Runt, white Trumpeter, white Fantail, and the same blue Pouter, was pure white all over, except the tail and upper tail-coverts, which were pale fawn, and except the faintest trace of double wing-bars of the same pale fawn tint.

[30] It deserves notice, as bearing on the general subject of variation, that not only _C. livia_ presents several wild forms, regarded by some naturalists as species and by others as sub-species or as mere varieties, but that the species of several allied genera are in the same predicament. This is the case, as Mr. Blyth has remarked to me, with Treron, Palumbus, and Turtur.

[31] ‘Denkmäler,’ Abth. ii. Bl. 70.

[32] ‘The ‘Dovecote,’ by the Rev. E. S. Dixon, 1851, pp. 11-13. Adolphe Pictet (in his ‘Les Origines Indo-Européennes,’ 1859, p. 399) states that there are in the ancient Sanscrit language between 25 and 30 names for the pigeon, and other 15 or 16 Persian names; none of these are common to the European languages. This fact indicates the antiquity of the domestication of the pigeon in the East.

[33] English translation, 1601, Book x. ch. xxxvii.

[34] ‘Ayeen Akbery,’ translated by F. Gladwin, 4to edit., vol. i. p. 270.

[35] J. M. Eaton, ‘Treatise on the Almond Tumbler,’ 1851; Preface, p. 6.

[36] As in the following discussion I often speak of the present time, I should state that this chapter was completed in the year 1858.

[37] ‘Ornithologie,’ 1600, vol. ii. p. 360.

[38] ‘A Treatise on Domestic Pigeons,’ dedicated to Mr. Mayor, 1765. Preface, p. 14.

[39] Mr. Blyth has given a translation of part of the ‘Ayeen Akbery’ in ‘Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,’ vol. xix. 1847, p. 104.

[40] ‘L’Histoire de la Nature des Oiseaux,’ p. 314.

[41] ‘Treatise on Pigeons,’ 1852, p. 64.

[42] J. M. Eaton ‘Treatise on the Breeding and Managing of the Almond Tumbler,’ 1851. Compare p. v. of Preface, p. 9, and p. 32.

[43] ‘Treatise on Pigeons,’ 1852, p. 41.

[44] Eaton’s ‘Treatise on Pigeons,’ 1858, p. 86.

[45] _See_ Neumeister’s figure of the Florence Runt, tab. 13 in ‘Das Ganze der Taubenzucht.’

[46] Mr. W. J. Moore gives a full account of the Ground Tumblers of India (‘Indian Medical Gazette,’ Jan. and Feb. 1873), and says the pricking the base of the brain, and giving hydrocyanic acid, together with strychnine, to an ordinary pigeon, brings on convulsive movements exactly like those of a Tumbler. One pigeon, the brain of which had been pricked, completely recovered, and ever afterwards occasionally made somersaults.