MOULTING AND COLOR BREEDING 117 



all blue pigeons that, occasionally will produce a silver offspring 

 which is always a female. 



It, has been a great question in the minds of many who notice 

 these irregularities in colors as to how to produce a male in 

 the negative color, viz.: yellow, dun or silver inasmuch as 

 these negative colored birds that spring from the positive colors 

 are always females. 



If you will follow me closely, I will explain how to breed 

 negative colored males. First locate the parents, whether they 

 be red, black or blue that produce the yellow, dun or silver 

 colored females. Separate these parents and remate the male 

 of that mating with a negative colored bird of its respective 

 color, viz.: if it is a red cock remate it with a yellow female; a 

 black cock with a dun female or a blue cock with a silver 

 female. It will be all right to mate the positive colored cock 

 with its negative colored female offspring, but just as well 

 to mate the cock with the negative colored female of no relation. 



Before I go further and to make it more simple, w^e will leave 

 off the black and dun and blue and silver combinations and 

 make the illustration wholly from the red and yellow combi- 

 nation, the black and dun, and blue and silver, being identical 

 with the re.d and yellow. What applies to one will apply to the 

 other. Explaining a little more, regarding the positive red cock 

 that occasionally produces a yellow female, such cocks are not 

 pure red positive colors, although they cannot be distinguished 

 in color from pure positive red cocks. There is something there 

 that one cannot see. They are impure bred and when mated 

 with a negative or yellow female the offspring of that mating 

 will be on an average one-fourth impure red cocks, one-fourth 

 yellow cocks, and one-fourth pure red hens and one-fourth 

 yellow hens. 



The offspring of the impure red male youngster will produce 

 the same as the offspring as its impure red male father regard- 

 less of whether it is mated to a red hen or a yellow hen and 

 the male offspring will be red if it is mated to a red hen and 

 yellow if it is mated to a yellow hen. The next generation or 

 reproduction will continue as above, therefore one can secure 

 yellow males out of every four on an average, which will pro- 

 duce yellow youngsters of both sex if mated to yellow females 

 by mating an impure red cock to a yellow hen and a red male 



