286 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICOLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 9, 1868. 



patent to every observant nataralist. Passing over, then, the 

 seeming inconsistency that such facts should be required at all 

 by " an old fancier " (especially in the face of the instances he 

 has adduced in my favour), let it suffice to say that in common 

 with the majority of fanciers, I have ever found colour a most 

 controllalile property, and that the German breeders, who make 

 plumage their especial object of cultivation, are continually 

 illustrating its- subjection to careful selection. 



So far from "condemning" the method of breeding, my 

 article positively and clearly asserts its value, and only questions 

 the departures from, or the one-sided application of, a prin- 

 ciple ever the guide of painstaking fanciers. The results best 

 test the method ; to these, as illustrated in the late Glasgow 

 shows, I have pointed, and from them shall continue to deduce 

 further observations. These exhibitions are pubUc, and I have 

 yet to learn that my remarks have exceeded the bounds of 

 truth or fair criticism. 



We have seen that " selection " is the one principle relied 

 upon by fanciers for the attainment of their results, that under 

 its influence Pouters have made great progress in size and 

 form. We have noticed that no such progress can be claimed 

 for plumage ; that while it is admitted that the markings may 

 be improved with tolerable ease, and that in colour certain 

 combinations are recommended and others condemned, yet the 

 applicability of " selection" as a means of improving plumage 

 has been questioned. We have further seen that no better, 

 or, indeed, different principle for guidance has been advanced. 

 One more of these illustrations drawn from Carriers must 

 be noticed. It is stated that " breeders match the best Blacks 

 to Duns without injury to Blacks." This illustration is not 

 nearly full enough to meet the requirements of the argument. 

 It fails to state how often Blacks may be so crossed without 

 injury; it omits to notice the poverty of colour from which 

 Black Carriers are suffering ; it takes no account of an essential 

 difference between Carriers and Pouters, the former being 

 whole-coloured, the latter pied ; and it suggests a comparison 

 between Dun and Mealy worth more than a passing remark. 

 Although in Carriers, Don may be considered as Mealy to the 

 Black, yet in Pouters we have no Mealy colour at all the'equiva- 

 lent of Dun in intensity. Admitting that Dun Carriers may 

 be frequently crossed with Blacks, does it follow as a neces- 

 sary sequence, that the far-less-intense Mealy Pouter can be 

 as frequently and as usefully employed, to say nothing of the 

 markings— an element not without its weight' in such a com- 

 parison ? 



It will scarcely be a digression here to state, that Carriers 

 are displaying to a considerable extent the evils of one-sided 

 selection, and that the partiaUty of breeders for "head" pro- 

 perties is resulting in some loss of that exquisite shape which 

 should be a distinguishing characteristic of this remarkable 

 variety. 



Since my assertion of deteriorated colour is disputed by Mr. 

 Ure, it may be desirable to offer some analysis of the coloured 

 Pouter classes at the last Glasgow Exhibition. This at any 

 rate wUl determine the present condition of plumage,' even it 

 it fails to endorse my views. On the occasion named, 138 

 birds were exhibited in the old classes as Pied Pouters of 

 standard colour, against sixty-one Mealies, Chequers, Splashes, 

 &c. But before any approximate estimate of plumage can be 

 formed these numbers require modification. From the 138 

 Pied Pouters, one-sixth at least must be deducted for birds too 

 impoverished in colour fairly to rank in a standard class, and 

 another sixth for birds of very indifferent markings, although 

 of passable colour. Ey adding the forty-six birds thus deducted 

 to the sixty-one figuring in the defective classes, a comparison 

 of some importance is reached — good plumage being repre- 

 sented by ninety-two birds, whilst bad plumage claims at least 

 107. Nor are these deductions needlessly severe. It would 

 probably be much nearer the mark to subtract one-fifth, or 

 one-fourth even, iu each ease. No provision having been made 

 for the exhibition of young Chequers, Grizzles, or Splashes, 

 the young classes cannot figure in this illustration, but if they 

 did similar deductions would be necessary. 



As the best birds are brought out for exhibition and the 

 worst left at home, it is more than probable that the foregoing 

 statistics somewhat favourably display the proportion of good 

 plumage to bad throughout the fancy, and whether they esta- 

 blish deterioration or not, they assert a condition of plumage 

 open to immense improvement. 



If "selection " implies that properties may be developed or 

 intensified by attention, it also implies a non-application or 

 misuse of that well-worn principle when any property exhibits 



decline or failure. Is deterioration, then, too hard a name for 

 the present condition of plumage, in the face of such statistics 

 as the greatest Pouter show furnishes, to say nothing of the 

 confessions lately appearing iu these columns ? Is it beyond 

 the truth to attribute such deterioration or want of develop- 

 ment to the known partiaUty for size and form, and the con- 

 sequent one-sided exercise of selection ? 



But what of the future? for this is the question that most 

 requires solution. Guided still by the light of selection, what 

 may be expected from a stock weighted so heavily with defec- 

 tive colour and markings ? 



Making every allowance for the possible effective use of 

 many doubtful specimens, granting that some may be most 

 legitimately employed for strengthening the White strains, that 

 others (under one ownership), may be matched to neutralise 

 their individual defects, there still remains a proportion of 

 defective plumage far too preponderating to be safely utilised 

 by matches with the sounder birds. Any such attempt would 

 but intensify the present disastrous tendencies, would accumu- 

 late in yet increasing numbers Mealies, Chequers, Grizzles, 

 and Splashes, would stimulate the production of still weaker 

 colour, would raise further barriers against accurate markings, 

 and would develope the strong bias to undesirable reversion, 

 which is more than ever a characteristic of the Pouter classes 

 in the departments now under consideration. I can, there- 

 fore, but re-affirm the suggestions contained in my article of 

 February Cth. Future progress demands a far stricter selec- 

 tion for plumage, the exclusive use for the present of the 

 soundest possible colour, and the temporary disuse of crosses 

 at all likely to injure the markings, dilute the colour, or other- 

 wise impair it in richness, smoothness, or lustre. Persistent 

 efforts in these directions would ultimately establish plumage 

 on a footing not less secure than size and contour. The mul- 

 tiplication of defective specimens would be restricted, [the 

 tendencies to unsightly reversions be in a great measure con- 

 trolled, and birds purer in strain, richer in colour, and more 

 comely in markings, would gradually supplant the well-nigh 

 ridiculous nondescripts so frequently offered for our admiration. 



Such selection should be well sustained. If ever our Pouters 

 are to attain to a complete pedigree, they must breed far truer 

 for plumage than they do now. Therefore. I claim for my re- 

 commendations more than a passing trial, and urge a per- 

 severance more on a par with that enduring effort which has 

 secured so much to admire in the domains of size, vigour, 

 symmetry, and carriage. 



However useful Mealies, Sandies, or Chequers, may have 

 proved for developing size and form, the occasion for their 

 continued use on so lavish a scale has passed, or is passing. 

 It is not now a question of raising grand birds from a stock 

 "little better than Pouting Horsemen," as Mr. Ure puts it. 

 The grand birds are already raised ; it is simply a question, 

 therefore, of maintaining our ground, while superadding un- 

 developed or neglected graces. 



A sounder plumage thus established, new starting points 

 would be secured for fresh triumphs with stocks far more true 

 and effective. Then, again, might well-bred Mealies be judi- 

 ciously employed to dilute the too intense blue (as already 

 pointed out by that tasteful fancier Mr. Huie), and other de- 

 fective birds with especial reference to revision of shape, and 

 to that lengthening of limb so much required to carry the in- 

 creased length of feather. 



To recapitulate. It has been shown that the present con- 

 dition of plumage urgently requires attention ; that unless such 

 attention be promptly bestowed the difficulties of the situation 

 will be materially complicated; that the principle of selection 

 judiciously applied fully meets the case; that such selection 

 involves the utmost circumspection in the use of defective 

 birds, if not their temporary disuse; that no degeneracy in 

 size or form need result from the more direct culture of colour 

 and markings, for the circumstances under which a profuse 

 use of delective-plumaged birds was justifiable no longer exist, 

 or are advantageously modified ; and, lastly, that artistic con- 

 siderations demand numerical restriction rather than the per- 

 petuation or multiplication of inferior specimens. 



There is yet another aspect of this subject. In the defective 

 classes there are many birds without pretensions to size, form, 

 or excellence of any kind, but which are. nevertheless, used at 

 the expense of every property in a mere eagerness to breed for 

 quantity. This abuse might be eft'ectively checked by a stricter 

 classification of our public shows. On no account should it be 

 possible to show Pouters very defective in colour or markings 

 I on equal terms with the standard specimens if shown at all ; 



