THE BREEDER HIS PLACE AND HIS WORK 



45 



distasteful to many people. The fact is, however, that some of the 

 greatest animals in history have been produced by close inbreeding. 

 An inbred individual has fewer different ancestors than the maxi- 

 mum possible number. A table showing the maximum possible 

 number of ancestors for twenty generations follows: 



It is plain from this tabulation that to produce an unrelated pair 

 of birds at the end of twenty generations, the foundation stock would 

 have to number over one million head. Of course, no flock, or even 

 breed, could have such a multiple origin. Therefore, inbreeding in 

 some degree becomes necessary because of overwhelming numbers. 

 Inbreeding is necessary to reduce the number of ancestors and thereby 

 reduce the chances of variation. 



Inbreeding intensifies and fixes the characters that are so bred. 

 It was resorted to by early breeders of purebred poultry because 

 outside their own or related flocks they were not able to find and 

 procure birds that would serve their purposes as well as birds of 

 their own breeding or birds of blood relationship to their own stock. 

 The evil effects of inbreeding are not infrequently evil effects result- 

 ing from the breeding of weak birds, for when father is mated to 

 daughter, or brother to sister, or mother to son, not only the good 

 points are intensified, but weaknesses are likewise augmented. If 

 there is a constitutional predisposition to weakness in the stock, it 

 becomes accentuated when bred in-and-in. 



As practiced by breeders, the principal purpose of inbreeding is to 

 restrict, that is, to simplify, the blood lines by excluding all outside 

 characters and tendencies, thus intensifying the points which the 

 breeder has selected and which he desires to perfect and perpetuate. 

 It has been said that at last an inbred family breaks down and "runs 

 out." There appears to be no evidence of this when the standard 

 bred to is a sensible standard, a true ideal that does not encourage the 

 development and perpetuation of freakish traits. Even though it be 

 granted, however, that inbreeding at last leads to decadence, it is not 



