166 PRINCIPLES OP STOCK-BKEEDING. 



When I saw the herd, in 1874, it numbered about 

 sixty, of all ages and sexes. Among them were sev- 

 eral steers. 



The park-keeper informed me that they produced 

 from ten to twelve calves annually, which agrees 

 closely with Mr. Darwin's estimate. They are cer- 

 tainly not very prolific, yet the number of calves is, 

 perhaps, as great as could be expected under the con- 

 ditions in which they are placed. 



They exhibited no indications of degeneracy or 

 lack of constitutional vigor, and I was assured that 

 they were both healthy and hardy. After several 

 hundred years of close breeding they are apparently 

 as robust as animals that have frequently received in- 

 fusions of " new blood " by crossing. 



Mr. Ballance, who has bred Malay fowls for nearly 

 thirty years, says : " During the whole of this period 

 I have never allowed the introduction of any fresh 

 blood by crossing with any other strain of Malays, 

 but have kept entirely to my own ; and as I have suc- 

 ceeded in winning more prizes with Malays than any 

 other fancier of the^e much-abused but most valuable 

 birds, in all parts of the kingdom, I think my experi- 

 ence is not to be despised, as testifying to the fact 

 that breeding in-and-in does not necessarily deteri- 

 orate the birds who may be subjected to this opera- 

 tion." 1 



" Colonel Jaques, of the Ten Hills Farm, near Bos- 

 ton, imported a pair of Bremen geese in 1822. They 

 were bred together till 1830, when the gander was 

 accidentally killed. 



1 Tegetmeier's " Poultry-Book," p. 79. 



