As, however, we never know the exact character of
the common ancestor of a group, we could not distinguish these two cases: if, for instance, we did not know that the rock-pigeon was not feather-footed or turn-crowned, we could not have told, whether these characters in our domestic breeds were reversions or only analogous variations; but we might have inferred that the blueness was a case of reversion, from the number of the markings, which are correlated with the blue tint, and which it does not appear probable would all appear together from simple variation.
At this point my companion left me, and I--well, I confess that I retraced my steps to
the common and rambled up that green lane, along which the romantic schoolmaster used to steal in the moonlight to the warm arms of his love.
