Our Turncrests. 79 



To obtain birds with fine crests, the practice is to select 

 one parent only with this appendage, which signifies little, 

 though for my part I should prefer it to be the hen, as we 

 know from many careful experiments that have been 

 made, that it is the male that contributes for the most part 

 the bones and what maybe termed the locomotive organs, 

 and the female the internal organs on which depend the 

 skin, and, consequently, the feathers, which, of course, 

 form the crest. As in the human being, experience 

 often shows that minds formed of the most opposite 

 attributes more forcibly attract each other than those 

 which appear cast in the same mould, so we suppose a 

 similar effect is produced in the bodily organism of our 

 pets, and that in the case of our turncrests the rule of 

 contraries is more potent than the rule of harmonies. 

 The greater the contrast the greater the fascination, and 

 the more likelihood of success. In this respect, ex- 

 tremes shall meet, and a beauteous offspring of crested 

 birds shall spring from a crested cock and smooth- 

 headed hen, or from a crested hen and smooth-headed 

 cock, which reminds me of that striking contrast drawn 

 by an anonymous poet between man and woman in the 

 following very beautiful lines : 



" Man is the rugged, lofty pine, 



That frowns on many a wave-beat shore ; 

 Woman, the slender, graceful vine, 

 Whose circling tendrils round it twine, 

 And deck its rough bark sweetly o'er. 



" Man is the rock whose towering crest 



Nods o'er the mountain's barren side; 

 Woman, the soft and mossy nest 

 That loves to clasp the sterile breast, 



And wreathe its brow in verdant pride. 



