WHAT A PURE BREKI) IS. 109 



desires by his own exertions to render any special service by 

 the addition of new varieties or the improvement of the old. 

 Fair success in a single breed is not difficult to obtain ; but he 

 is a poor poultry-breeder who is content to let his favourite 

 variety remain exactly as he found it, without at least some 

 attempt to improve it either in beauty or in economic value ; 

 and any such attempt, to be successful, must be directed by an 

 intelligent mind, which sees definitely before it the result to 

 be attained. 



The elements of success are so few and simple, and a 

 thorough knowledge of them so quickly acquired and so easily 

 applied, that we shall devote a few pages to this part of the sub- 

 ject before entering upon the morepractical portion of this section. 



The greatest misapprehension appears to exist amongst all 

 but the most educated poultry-fanciers respecting the origin of 

 different breeds. People seem to imagine that they have 

 come down to us, or at least a number of them, in unbroken 

 descent from far-back ages ; and this belief has given rise to 

 innumerable discussions concerning the purity or otherwise of 

 different varieties, which might have been spared had the 

 disputants comprehended the real nature of the case. We 

 cannot do better here than give some able remarks which 

 appeared some time since in the Field, and which deserve to 

 be well studied, for they contain the first principles of the 

 whole science of breeding : 



" Such questions as the following are constantly asked: 

 ' Are the Brahmas a pure breed ? are Black Hamburghs a pure 

 breed]' <kc. <tc. These queries obviously owe their origin to 

 a confusion of the distinction that exists between different 

 animals and between different varieties of the same animal 

 Let us illustrate our meaning by an example. 



"A hare is a pure-bred animal, because it is totally distinct 

 from all other animals, or, as naturalists say, it constitutes a 

 distinct species. It does not breed with other animals, for the 



