404 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 977 



PREPOTENCY EN" AIREDALE TERRIERS 



I HAVE recently had occasion to make a care- 

 ful analysis of the ancestry and get of Aire- 

 dale terriers. In view of the fact that this 

 variety of dogs was manufactured only some 

 fifty years ago out of known materials' and now 

 breeds true to type the results are interesting, 

 especially when compared with Davenport's 

 studies in trotting-horse pedigrees.^ 



The records of the English and American 

 Kennel Clubs' Stud Books show that to 

 January, 1913, 80 dogs and 69 bitches have 

 won their championship in both countries. 

 Since to become a champion, a dog must re- 

 ceive a certain number of awards under at 

 least three different judges, it is safe to assume 

 that winners of the title are above the average 

 of the variety. Certainly to breed a champion 

 is the object of dog fanciers' breeding experi- 

 ments. 



Of the 80 dog champions, 39 were sired by 

 champions. Of the 80 champions 38 had one 

 grand-sire a champion, and 23 champions 

 had both grand-sires champions. Just one less 

 than half of all dog champions were sired by 

 a champion, and about three fourths had either 

 one or both grand-sires champions. 



Of the 80 dog champions, however, 53 never 

 sired a champion of either sex. Only 27 of the 

 dog champions produced championship win- 

 ners. Of these 27 sires of champions, but 13 

 produced more than one champion. However, 

 these 13 exceptional sires produced 49 of the 

 149 Airedale champions; almost a third of all 

 the champions of both sexes. 



In the second generation, sons of champions 

 sired 47 dog and 38 bitch champions, and 

 daughters of champions were the dams of 43 

 dog and 22 bitch champions. It should be 

 noted that champions both of whose grand- 

 sires were champions get into these figures 

 twice, as both the get of a champion's son and 

 also of a champion's daughter. Of the 80 dog 

 champions, 17 are bred this way. 



Of the 80 dog champions, however, only 24 



^Buckley, "The Airedale Terrier," 1907; 

 Haynes, "The Airedale," 1911; Palmer, "All 

 about Airedales," 1912. 



2 " Principles of Breeding," pp. 551-567. 



actually appear as grand-sires of champions, 

 and but 10 are the grand-sire of 4 or more- 

 champions. Even more striking evidence of 

 the prepotency of certain dogs as producers of 

 champions is that those dogs who sired 2 or 

 more champions almost invariably appear 

 among those whose sons and daughters have 

 produced more than 4 champions. The excep- 

 tional sires are also the exceptional grand- 

 sires. The following table shows the cham- 

 pions in the ancestry and get of these excep- 

 tional breeding individuals. 



These 16 champions have sired 50 cham- 

 pions, or, in other words, a third of all the 

 Airedale champions have been sired by some- 

 thing less than a third of the dog champions. 



Moreover, a glance at the pedigrees of these 

 16 phenomenal producers show them all to be 

 more or less closely related. All trace back to 

 Cholmondeley Briar (No. 9 in the above table). 

 The three greatest producers of the lot are 

 Master Briar (44), Clonmel Monarch (17), 

 and Crompton Oorang (21). Master Briar is 

 a grand-son of Cholmondeley Briar and the 

 sire of Clonmel Monarch. Crompton Oorang 

 is by a son of Master Briar out of a daughter 

 of Clonmel Monarch. Without tracing out 

 all the relationships in the dogs of the table, it 

 may be said that the two living dogs (21 and 



