Fig. 1From: Artificial Selection and Domestication: Modern Lessons from Darwin’s Enduring Analogy Drawings of four of the six pigeon breeds presented by Darwin (1868), as drawn by Luke Wells. a English pouter, b short-faced English tumbler, c English carrier, d English fantail. As extraordinary as the differences among them appear in these drawings, Darwin (1868) noted that “the characters of the six breeds which have been figured are not in the least exaggerated.” Darwin himself became an active breeder of pigeons and attempted not only to demonstrate that all of the fancy breeds produced by artificial selection descended from a single wild species (the rock pigeon, Columba livia) but to reconstruct their historical relationships (Fig. 4)Back to article page