trates the variability of dogs, horses, fowls, and pigeons, but he
none the less shows clearly the _very small_ extent to which the goose, the
peacock, and the guinea-fowl have varied.[110] Mr. Darwin attempts to
explain this fact as regards the goose by the animal being valued only for
food and feathers, and from no pleasure having been felt in it on other
accounts. He adds, however, at the end the striking remark,[111] which
concedes the whole position, "but the goose seems to have _a singularly
inflexible organization_." This is not the only place in which such
expressions are used. He elsewhere makes use of phrases which quite
harmonize with the conception of a normal specific constancy, but varying
greatly and suddenly at intervals. Thus he speaks[112] of a _whole
organization seeming to have become plastic, and tending to depart from the
parental type_. That different organisms should have different degrees of
variability, is only what might have been expected _a priori_ from the
existence of parallel differences in inorganic species, some of these
having but a single form, and others being polymorphic.

To return to the goose, however, it may be remarked that it is at least as
probable that its fixity of character is the cause of the neglect, as the
reverse. It is by no means unfair to assume that _had_ the goose shown a
tendency to vary similar in degree to the tendency to variation of the fowl
or pigeon, it would have received attention at once on that account.

As to the peacock it is excused on the pleas (1), that the individuals
maintained are so few in number, and (2) that its beauty is so great it can
hardly be improved. But the individuals maintained _have not been too few_
for the independent origin of the black-shouldered form, or for the
supplanting of the commoner one by it. As to any neglect in selection,{120}
it can hardly be imagined that with regard to this bird (kept as it is all
but exclusively for its beauty), any spontaneous beautiful variation in
colour or form would have been neglected. On the contrary, it would have
been seized upon with avidity and preserved with anxious care. Yet apart
from the black-shouldered and white varieties, no tendency to change has
been known to show itself. As to its being too beautiful for improvement,
that is a proposition which can hardly be maintained. Many consider the
Javan bird as much handsomer than the common peacock, and it would be easy
to suggest a sc