14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



absolutely necessary to have the trap nest at all, as we can 

 certainly make rapid progress by merely judging the birds on 

 their externals. We must realize, of course, that no physical 

 examination of any individual, be it a race horse or a cow or a 

 hog or a sheep or a hen, will always be absolutely correct in 

 predicting the best or the poorest individual, but it will be 

 sufficiently accurate so that, for all practical purposes, a man 

 can eliminate from his flock the unprofitable birds and can 

 keep only the profitable, and can also distinguish between the 

 more and the less profitable. 



Points in Selection. 



I am going to pass very rapidly over the first step in the 

 selection; after having decided upon our pure breed, it is to 

 recognize those characteristics that indicate the vitality of our 

 offspring or of our stock. We must have good stock to begin 

 with, — strong, healthy, vigorous stock. It is an inherited 

 characteristic to be born weak or strong, and occasionally a 

 bird that is born strong becomes weak by misuse, but what- 

 ever the cause may be, it is important that we get rid of any 

 bird that shows weakness at any time in its life from a baby 

 chick up. 



As regards the general body shape of a weak chicken you 

 will find that the body usually lacks capacity where there is 

 low vitality; that it has a very tucked-up and rather contracted 

 abdomen; it has a tendency to be hollow-breasted, angular, 

 ungainly and loose-jointed in its make-up. Whenever an in- 

 dividual becomes weak while growing, nature seems to direct 

 its growth towards the enlargement of certain parts and the 

 dwarfing of others. If any part of a weak chicken grows it is 

 its head and beak and feet, and occasionally its wings, at the 

 expense of its body. So you will find a tendency to a rather 

 thin head; a long, thin, flat beak; a rather long, thin neck; thin 

 body; long, thin shanks, legs and toes, and a very poor develop- 

 ment of plumage; a sunken, dull eye; a drooping eyelid; a 

 small, pale comb, — all of those external characteristics that 

 indicate poor health, low vitality and a poor appetite. In other 

 words, the bird of low vitality has a weak development of the 

 breast and a poor development of the abdomen, whereas the 



