136 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



are many faults he knows too well may occur in his 

 chickens at any time, which he half anticipates, and when 

 they occur puts down to his own want of skill ; there are 

 other defects which, if they did occur, he would consider 

 clear proof that he had been swindled in the stock he had 

 purchased. Suppose he breeds dark Brahmas ; he may find 

 no uniformity in pencilling, or bad striping in the hackle, or 

 some decided fault in shape or carriage. But ask if he 

 expects ever to find a single comb, and he at once says, No. 

 Whence comes this difference ? 



Let him think, and he will see. It is simply that the 

 pea-comb has been regarded as such an absolute sine quA 

 non in the Brahma that for many generations birds which 

 did not possess it have never been bred from. It was not 

 always so ; we can well remember single combs. But for 

 many years now that point has been imperative ; in regard 

 to it, therefore, not one single link in the chain of succession 

 has ever been dropped during all these years, and thus 

 every year has added to its fixedness. That point has 

 become sure, and we learn thus that uncertainty is not 

 necessary in regard to any point. To overcome such 

 uncertainty is the task of the breeder, and the necessary 

 process is not to lose a link in the succession, or any 

 ground already gained, but to keep a definite method 

 steadily in view. But now we come face to face with 

 difficulties in this, and the methods by which they can 

 be overcome. 



One of the first practical points, and one of the fhst 

 difficulties, is that he cannot do without a very considerable 

 amount of in-breeding ; while, on the other hand, it is soon 

 found that this course has its limits, reached in the physical 

 weakness and deterioration which result from too close 

 breeding of the same strain. It is not only that every cross 

 may introduce unknown tendencies to faults already more 



