PEDIGREE OR LINE BREEDING 



199 



a_f;ain had this confirmed in the Ijrecdino- 

 of crests. AVe have paired a long-fronted 

 crest cock to a crestbred hen, and have 

 paired a brother of the said crested cock 

 Avithout such a long frontal crest to the 

 same hen, and have produced good birds 

 from both, but far more valuable specimens 

 from the crested cock with the longest 

 frontal. Instances of this kind furnish 

 pretty conclusive proof that specimens with 

 the desired structural developments as a 

 rule are the more i>otent in ensuring their 

 rejiroduction. 



The same developments can be brought 

 about by the use of other stock, in which 

 the desired points are not so pronounced, 

 by careful selection ; but the progress is 

 slower, although there may be — and, 

 indeed, are — instances where rapid improve- 

 ment comes from the happy blending of 

 im])erfectly developed stock. Still, wc 

 are not speaking of isolated cases ; our 

 reference is general, and to lasting- 

 results rather than fortunate hits or 

 sports. 



Sir Ray Lankester once wrote in the 



Daily Telegraph: "Selection, whether due 



to survival in the struggle 



Sir Ray j^^. existence or exercised 



Lankester 



on Selection. ^Y ™an as a breeder or 

 ' fancier,' is the only way 

 in which new characteristics, good or bad, 

 can be implanted in a race or stock, and 

 become part of the hereditary quality of 

 that race or stock. This applies equally 

 to man and to animals and plants. And 

 this selection is no temporary or casual 

 thing. It means ' the selection for breed- 

 ing ' of those individuals which sponta- 

 neously, by the innate variability which 

 all living things show (so that no two indi- 

 viduals are exactly alike), have exhibited 

 from birth onwards, more or less clearly, 

 indications of the characteristic which is 

 to be selected. Nothing done to them 

 after birth, and not done to others of their 

 family or race, causes the desired char- 

 acteristic ; it ajipears unexpectedly, almost 

 as an inborn quality. It may be a slight 

 difference only, not easy to take note of ; 

 but if it enables those who jiossess it to 



" Variation." 



get the better of tiieir competitors in the 

 struggle for life, they will survive and 

 mate, and so transmit their characteristic 

 to the next generation. 



" Selection is not a thing once done and 

 then dropped ; natural selection is continu- 

 ous and never-ending, except in rare and 

 special circumstances, such as man may 

 bring about by his interference. The 

 characteristics of a race or species are 

 maintained by natural selection just as 

 much as they are produced by it. Cessa- 

 tion of selection (which is sometimes 

 brought about by exceptional conditions) 

 results in a departure of the individuals of 

 the race no longer subject to selection from 

 the standard of form and characteristics 

 jireviously maintained." 



[This we have efficiently borne out in the 

 Canary family where they are allowed to 

 pair up indiscriminately.] 



" To understand this we must consider 

 for a moment the great property of living 

 things, which is called 

 ' variation.' No two ani- 

 mals or plants, even when born of the 

 same i^arents, are ever exactly alike ; 

 not only that, but if we look at a great 

 number of individuals of a race or stock, 

 we find that some are very different from 

 the others in colour, in proportion of parts, 

 in character, and other qualities. As a 

 rule, it is difficult to look at such a num- 

 ber, because in Nature only two on the 

 average out of many hundreds, sometimes 

 thousands, born from a single pair of 

 parents, grow up to take their parents' 

 place, and these two are those ' selected ' 

 by natural survival on account of their 

 close resemblance to the parents. But if 

 we experimentally rear the offspring of a 

 plant or animal to full growth, not allow- 

 ing them to perish by competition for food, 

 or place, or by inability to escape enemies, 

 then we see more clearly how great is the 

 inborn variation, how many and wide are 

 the departures from the favoured standard 

 form which are naturally born, and owe 

 their peculiarities to this birth-quality — 

 called innate or congenital variation — and 

 not to anything which happens to them 



