206 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



firmed and strengthened. Anything like a cross 

 should be most jealously guarded against, as introduc- 

 ing a conflict of influences which impairs the charac- 

 ter of the race." 1 



Mr. Wright, in discussing this subject, says, " There 

 is, for instance, a well-known strain of Buff Cochins, 

 of marked excellence in every point, but which has a 

 strong tendency to breed a white feather in the cock's 

 tail. 



" Now, it is perfectly possible, by a judicious cross 

 from some other strain, and careful selection afterward, 

 to get rid of this objectionable feature ; and we will 

 suppose an individual yard in which this has been so 

 far accomplished that in only a small proportion does 

 the hated white feather appear. This desired result, 

 with a little care, will now be easily maintained while 

 such a yard is bred to itself, or with any other not too 

 far removed from it in blood ; but if crossed from a 

 strain thoroughly distinct and alien, or what poultry- 

 men call too " sudden " a cross (for, without knowing 

 the reason, they have found the evil of such often, and 

 know it well), the old white feather may veiy proba- 

 bly reappear in all its original strength, though the 

 new blood contained no tendency to it whatever. It 

 is simply the cross of strange blood which gives the 

 impulse to reversion. In the same way, to take the 

 case mentioned just now, the pure white Spanish face 

 being simply the result of assiduous breeding, and the 

 most extreme care being needed for its preservation, 

 the simple fact of crossing two entirely distinct strains 

 gives the impulse to revert to the red face which be- 



1 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society r , vol. xxii., p. 11. 



