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 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 (''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
References
Pigeon breeds
{{Domesticated-pigeon-breed-stub