Pedigree Poultry Breeding. 67 



tates methods of expeditiously and accurately handling chick 

 leg bands (page 84). 



The methods and appliances which have been devised in 

 connection with the breeding work at the Maine Station bear 

 upon each of the matters enumerated at one point or another 

 The remainder of the bulletin is devoted to detailed descrip- 

 tions of these methods and devices. 



A SYSTEM OF KEEPING PEDIGREE RECORDS. 



There are probably as many systems of keeping pedigree 

 records as there are breeders who are interested in such rec- 

 ords. Each breeder's particular interests or needs lead to the 

 adaptation of records to meet these needs. There is reason to 

 believe, however, that not a few breeders keep their pedigree 

 records in so unsystematic a manner, that on the one hand, a 

 great deal of time and labor is lost in tracing pedigrees and 

 in entering new, and, on the other hand, there is great likeli- 

 hood of error occurring in the records themselves because of 

 the unwieldy character of the method by which they are kept. 

 All will agree that the thing to be desired in such a system of 

 records is that any given pedigree or step in a pedigree may be 

 looked up or entered with the least possible expenditure of 

 time and labor and the greatest possible accuracy. The sys- 

 tem of record keeping in use in the breeding work here is 

 thought to realize this ideal very well. It has been tested under 

 conditions calculated to put any record system under the sever- 

 est kind of strain and has stood the test satisfactorily. 



Its simplicity is its great recommendation. 



General Points Regarding Pedigree Records. 



For keeping the pedigree records in the breeding work of 

 the Station the loose leaf system has been adopted as best for 

 this work. All records are kept on sheets of uniform size 

 (5x8 inches) which are readily removed or inserted in a 

 patent type of binder which is used. In keeping the records, 

 sheets of different colors are used for different specific classes 

 of data. For example, the mating sheets (cf., p. 69 below) 



