78 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



And right here is where we were on the point of the 

 second great secret in breeding that would verify the saying 

 that "Like begets like." The first discovery was, that if we 

 wished to raise pullets that would be good layers, we would 

 have to mate good-laying hens with the same type of male 

 bird, and not with the meat type that is, the male birds 

 would have to be of the same temperament, of the same 

 anatomy, and of the same physiology as the hen. I found 

 that if I had a hen that laid 180 eggs by the trap-nest, and if I 

 wanted to raise a lot of "pullets that would average 180 eggs, 

 I could not depend on the trap-nest to aid me any farther 

 than to tell me the number of eggs a hen laid, what particular 

 eggs she laid, and the progeny of each hen, both male and 

 female. I also found great variations in type in the mature 

 cockerels from each individual hen, which we considered was 

 due to the difference in type of the male bird and the differ- 

 ence in vitality of one or both birds at different times during 

 the breeding season; sometimes the hen, at other times the 

 cock bird, transmitting their characteristics. When I was 

 assured of this through numerous experiments, I reasoned 

 that my failures were because the male bkds were of a differ- 

 ent type from the hens, and when I had demonstrated that 

 the male birds were of a different physiology by practice 

 and scientific measures, and mated accordingly, I flattered 

 myself with the assurance that I had discovered all that was 

 necessary in order to breed poultry intelligently. But after 

 more experiments I was not wholly satisfied with results; 

 and as I had adopted the motto, "Like begets like," I reasoned 

 that although the birds we had mated were alike, as far as 

 we could see, the remaining difference must be some place 

 where I had failed to look for it. My knowledge of the 

 different variations in form of the skulls of animals and 

 birds of the same breed, together with the knowledge I 

 possessed of human skulls, led me to investigate the head as 

 the only remaining factor in the problem. When I reduced 

 this proposition to a method, and when I was able to measure 

 its potentiality, then I assembled the hens and cock birds, 

 mating the 180-egg type hens and the 180-egg type cock 

 birds, each bird with the same degree of prepotency. Then, 

 and not until then, had I ever knowingly mated like to like. 

 For years, like many others, I thought I had mated males 



