IxFLi'EXCE OF ImAGIXATIOX OX THE FeMALE. I3I 



sufficient vigour to complete the process successfully. The number of cases where such experiments 

 have been made as we have quoted, in which part of the eggs produced showed signs of hatching, 

 but did net hatch, is proportionately very great, and the conclusion will not be lost on the intelligent 

 breeder. But still further, and coming back to the considerations with which we commenced this 

 part of the subject, it is utterly impossible to resist the conclusion that, beyond fertilisation, the act 

 of union exerts, in many cases, a more mysterious and far-reaching influence. Mr. Darwiu eiilcrs 

 at some length into this subject, and attempts to explain it by his theory of Pangenesis, in a way 

 which seems to us eminently unsatisfactory ; but the fact remains — proved beyond the possibility 

 of doubt — that again and again hens of different breeds and female animals of various kinds, after 

 the birth oi half-bred offspring, have ever afterwards manifested a plainly evident tendency 

 to produce offspring bearing more or less strong traces of the same character. This tendency 

 greatly varies, and cannot therefore be calculated ; but it exists, and tends to show that a given 

 chick may in a certain mj-thical sense have two fathers, or rather that the progeny of one bird is 

 in some mysterious way modified by the previous union with another. The most probable explan- 

 ation is, that as habit is the developed tendency to do again what has been already done, so the 

 female reproductive system having once given birth to offspring having a strongly-marked character, 

 becomes in a cfegree moulded to that character, and tends again to produce it. At all events the 

 teaching of this fact is plain, and we would never, on any account, allow any valued hens to mate 

 with another breed, ^'e have known ourselves several cases in which hens once crossed have 

 reproduced strong cases of that cross two years afterwards, and many othenvise unaccountable 

 occurrences which have given rise to bitter recriminations, may be thus very easily explained. 



There is yet another precaution of this kind to be taken, which may indeed be possibly 

 connected with the foregoing. We have seen the statement of it by others ignorantly ridiculed by 

 men who have had little experience of their own ; but the experience of every year impresses on 

 us the desirability of avoiding anything which may act strongly on the imagination or sight of the 

 hen. A few facts will make this clear. A great American breeder had some Light Brahma hens 

 running with Spanish, the cocks being Spanish only ; and as long as these white hens were 

 allowed, the Spanish chickens came with many white feathers, which ceased when the Brahmas 

 were removed. Another gentleman put a single-combed hen into a pen of Crevecceurs : the 

 next clutch of chicks varied much in colour, several had single combs, and most were worthless ; 

 but after the strange hen was removed they were all right. A well-known English breeder very 

 . frequently, but not invariably, found that whenever he put black hens with his white Cochins, he 

 got many chicks with black splashes, which ceased when they were removed. For this last case we 

 can personally vouch ; and in our own yard, breeding as we have frequently done from a hocked 

 cock to compensate want of feather, we have always found that cutting off the vulture-hock 

 diminished the number of hocked chickens at least 30 per cent. This influence, no doubt, greatly 

 varies — in some cases no sign of it can be discovered, whilst in others it is very evident — but it 

 should always be kept in view and guarded against. Mr. Martin's preference, as expressed in the 

 chapter on Dorkings, for hatching his eggs under properly-coloured hens, will also be noticed as 

 the experience of an old breeder ; and, indeed, we have hardly known one such who did not attach 

 sotne importance to this point in breeding. 



It has long been found from experience that the hen has most influence upon the form, 

 size, and general economic or constitutional qualities of her progeny, wdiilst that of the cock more 

 predominates as regards the "fancy" points. In other words, the hen chiefly influences the chicken 

 from the skin inwards, whilst the cock more determines the feathering ; or still again, as an artist 

 friend expressed it, "the hen blocks in the picture, while the cock puts the finishing touches." That 



