Seite - 40 - in The Origin of Species
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40 ORIGIN OF SPECIES
sessed the characteristic enormous crop ? The supposed abo-
riginal stocks must all have been rock-pigeons, that is, they
did not breed or willingly perch on trees. But besides C.
livia, with its geographical sub-species, only two or three
Other species of rock-pigeons are known and these have
not any of the characters of the domestic breeds. Hence
the supposed aboriginal stocks must either still exist in the
countries where they were originally domesticated, and yet
be unknown to ornithologists; and this, considering their
size, habits, and remarkable characters, seems improbable;
or they must have become extinct in the wild state. But
birds breeding on precipices, and good fliers, are unlikely
to be exterminated
; and the common rock-pigeon, which has
the same habits with the domestic breeds, has not been ex-
terminated even on several of the smaller British islets, or
on the shores of the Mediterranean. Hence the supposed
extermination of so many species having similar habits with
the rock-pigeon seems a very rash assumption. Moreover,
the several above-named domesticated breeds have been
transported to all parts of the world, and, therefore, some
of them must have been carried back again into their native
country; but not one has become wild or feral, though the
dovecot-pigeon, which is the rock-pigeon in a very slightly
altered state, has become feral in several places. Again,
all recent experience shows that it is difficult to get wild ani-
mals to breed freely under domestication; yet on the hy-
pothesis of the multiple origin of our pigeons, it must be
assumed that at least seven or eight species were so thor-
oughly domesticated in ancient times by half-civilised man,
as to be quite prolific under confinement.
An argument of great weight, and applicable in several
other cases, is, that the above-specified breeds, though agree-
ing generally with the wild rock-pigeon in constitution, habits,
voice, colouring, and in most parts of their structure, yet are
certainly highly abnormal in other parts ; we may look in vain
through the whole great family of Columbidje for a beak like
that of the English carrier, or that of the short-faced tum-
bler, or barb
; for reversed feathers like those of the Jacobin ;
for a crop like that of the pouter; for tail-feathers like those
of the fantail. Hence it must be assumed not only that half-
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Buch The Origin of Species"
The Origin of Species
- Titel
- The Origin of Species
- Autor
- Charles Darwin
- Verlag
- P. F. Collier & Son
- Ort
- New York
- Datum
- 1909
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 10.5 x 16.4 cm
- Seiten
- 568
- Schlagwörter
- Evolutionstheorie, Evolution, Theory of Evolution, Naturwissenschaft, Natural Sciences
- Kategorien
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Biologie
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 5
- AN HISTORICAL SKETCH of the Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species 9
- INTRODUCTION 21
- Variation under Domestication 25
- Variation under Nature 58
- Struggle for Existence 76
- Natural Selection; or the Survival of the Fittest 93
- Laws of Variation 145
- Difficulties of the Theory 178
- Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection 219
- Instinct 262
- Hybridism 298
- On the Imperfection of the Geological Record 333
- On the Geological Succession of Organic Beinss 364
- Geographical Distribution 395
- Geographical Distribution - continued 427
- Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs 450
- Recapitulation and Conclusion 499
- GLOSSARY 531
- INDEX 541