liviapresentsseveralwildforms，regardedbysomenaturalistsasspeciesandbyothersassub—speciesorasmerevarieties，butthatthespeciesofseveralalliedgeneraareinthesamepredicament。Thisisthecase，asMr。
Blythhasremarkedtome，withTreron，Palumbus，andTurtur。），andstillmoresowhensemi—domesticated，asshownbycomparingtheSierraLeonepigeonswiththoseofIndia，orwiththosewhichapparentlyhaverunwildinMadeira。Ithasundergoneastillgreateramountofvariationinthecaseofthenumeroustoy—pigeons，whichnoonesupposestobedescendedfromdistinctspecies;yetsomeofthesetoy—pigeonshavetransmittedtheircharactertrulyforcenturies。Why，then，shouldwehesitatetobelieveinthatgreateramountofvariationwhichisnecessaryfortheproductionoftheelevenchiefraces？Itshouldbeborneinmindthatintwoofthemoststrongly—markedraces，namely，CarriersandShort—facedTumblers，theextremeformscanbeconnectedwiththeparent—speciesbygraduateddifferencesnotgreaterthanthosewhichmaybeobservedbetweenthedovecote—pigeonsinhabitingdifferentcountries，orbetweenthevariouskindsoftoy—pigeons，——gradationswhichmustcertainlybeattributedtovariation。
Thatcircumstanceshavebeeneminentlyfavourableforthemodificationofthepigeonthroughvariationandselectionwillnowbeshown。Theearliestrecord，ashasbeenpointedouttomebyProfessorLepsius，ofpigeonsinadomesticatedcondition，occursinthefifthEgyptiandynasty，about3000
B。C。（6/31。’Denkmaler’abth。2bl。70。）;butMr。Birch，oftheBritishMuseum，informsmethatthepigeonappearsinabilloffareinthepreviousdynasty。DomesticpigeonsarementionedinGenesis，Leviticus，andIsaiah。（6/32。’The’Dovecote’bytheRev。E。S。Dixon1851pages11—13。
AdolphePictet（inhis’LesOriginesIndo—Europeennes’1859page399）