BREED BUILDING 145 



than formerly. The result is a large number of really 

 superior Clydes and a relatively small number of poor, 

 unsymmetrical animals. 



The attempt is often made to show that a breed 

 originates from one or a few animals of note, whereas such 

 animals only improve or accentuate desirable qualities. 

 They may be, and usually are, the first mile-stones 

 from which the history and records of the breed are 

 made up, so it has become customary to give credit, as 

 the parent stock of the breed, to a few animals which 

 showed marked improvement over other animals of 

 similar characteristics. It is self-evident that the power 

 to produce specimens above the average was present, 

 though usually latent, in the ancestors which preceded 

 the specimens which showed marked variations for the 

 better. The valuable and distinguishing characteristics 

 of a breed are not produced in a day or in a single 

 generation. They come by slow growth, in accordance 

 with the laws of evolution. However, for convenience 

 in writing up the inception and development of a breed, 

 we start with one or a few more or less noted animals, 

 and largely or entirely ignore the ancestry which lies 

 back of them. From a few more or less distinguished 

 animals, the breed begins and is usually developed by 

 in -breeding for a few generations. When a breed is 

 being formed, often little is known of the ancestors of 

 the females which are bred to the selected foundation - 

 males. Several generations may elapse before an 

 attempt is made to exclude from the Dieed, especially 

 on the female side, animals which have less than 

 seven -eighths of the selected or approved ancestry. 



