Preparations for Breeding, 8fc. 101 



outset what this shall be, and do all you can to get it 

 pure and distinct. Thus, whether it be pure white, 

 pale lemon, or buff, bright yellow, or deep orange, grey 

 or green, cinnamon or mottled ; in short, whether it be 

 the Lizard, the London fancy, or the Yorkshire spangle, 

 or prize Belgian, do not miss them but keep them sepa- 

 rate, selecting such birds only as are likely in your 

 judgment to produce offspring still more excellent than 

 their parents. This, you may rest assured, will not 

 only be the most likely way of improving the breed to 

 which your special attention may chance to be directed, 

 but will impart an additional interest to the under- 

 taking, which mere chance or promiscuous breeding 

 would fail to yield. In our own case, excellence in 

 colour, and elegance of shape, song being for the most 

 part a matter of after education, were the two points 

 we specially aimed at. With regard to shape, there is 

 little or no difficulty to contend with, the rule of " like 

 producing like" invariably holding good. With regard 

 to colour, however, owing I imagine to the promiscuous 

 breeding and crossing hitherto practised, it is nothing 

 like so certain. Could you only obtain birds of any 

 given colour, whose ancestors had never been crossed 

 with those of any other for eight or ten generations 

 previously, I have little doubt but that it would be as 

 constant and unchanging as any other quality you could 

 name. But owing to the want of the systematic breed- 

 ing we recommend, this rule can hardly be depended 

 up'on at present, or, indeed, any other, for all are liable 

 to be marred by vagaries which the breeder could not 

 possibly anticipate. Hence also the discrepancies and 



