ON BREEDING AND REARING ANIMALS. 29 



not solely on the principle of breeding in and 

 in ; no doubt, in the pursuit of this principle, 

 there are, as in every process, two extremes and 

 a medium. 



As for dogs, I knew a gentleman, who by-\ 

 crossing had lost the valuable qualities of his ( 

 greyhounds, which determined him to try back, ) 

 by breeding from the nearest blood, and he suc- 

 ceeded, and recovered his lost excellence. And 

 Samuel Emley, Esq. of Salisbury, assured me, 

 he bred in and in, with the same family, both / 

 pointers and spaniels, for thirty years, and never } 

 found them degenerate. 



No opinion is more common, than that game- 

 cocks will degenerate, when bred in and in ; but 

 having asked different breeders, in what points 

 they have been found to degenerate, I was an- 

 swered by one, that those so bred, would stand 

 up till killed, but that they had no spirit or ac- 

 tivity ; whilst the other asserted, that they were 

 all activity, spirit, and dash, at the onset, but 

 gave in after a blow or two. I have also re- 

 peatedly heard the same inconsistent objections , 

 made to breeding in and in with greyhounds ; 

 one party asserting, that those so bred, have: 

 great speed, but no bottom, whilst another states, 

 that they have no activity or speed, but will run . 

 till death. 



