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.