The Barb (also called the English Barb) is a
breed
A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
of
fancy pigeon
Fancy pigeon refers to any breed of domestic pigeon, which is a domesticated form of the wild rock dove (''Columba livia''). They are bred by pigeon fanciers for various traits relating to size, shape, color, and behavior, and often exhibited at p ...
developed over many years of
selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...
.
Barbs, along with other varieties of
domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the
rock pigeon
The rock dove, rock pigeon, or common pigeon ( also ; ''Columba livia'') is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon".
The domestic pigeon (''Columba livia domes ...
(''a livia'').
This breed was referred to by
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
.
[Seymour, Rev. Colin (Ed)(2006) ''Australian Fancy Pigeons National Book of Standards''.] It was also referred to with an illustration in
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
's ''
Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
''The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication'' is a book by Charles Darwin that was first published in January 1868.
A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it al ...
''.
See also
*
List of pigeon breeds
This is an alphabetical list of pigeon breeds. Pigeons and doves are members of the bird family Columbidae. Doves tend to be smaller and pigeons larger, although this distinction is not consistently applied.
The birds listed here are breeds of th ...
References
Pigeon breeds
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