otherwise could they have been derived? So it 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