CHAPTER XI 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF PIGEON BREEDINO 



Principles — Variation — Atavism — Contamination — I'rcpotency — Lilie Be- 

 gets Lilie — Practices — Vigor — Building up a Strain — Inbreeding — 

 Line Breeding — Line Breeding Chart — Description of Line Breeding 

 Chart — Line Breeding as Affecting Satiali Producing Birds — Oiit- 

 Crossing. 



PRINCIPLES 



In breeding pigeons wc should not lie content with just mat- 

 ing up oiu' birds or allowing them to mate iiromiseuously. 

 There arc certain principles pertaining to breeding which apply 

 to pigeons and which effect lioth our natural and forced mak- 

 ings. AVe should stud\' these principles, watch them ^^•ork ou.t 

 in oin- lofts and make use of them or ti'v to overcome their ill 

 effects as the case may h(>. By doing so we can accomplish 

 much toward bettering our stock. Ajiparently the breeding ot 

 pigeons is an easy task and some ai'e content to lielieve this. 

 However, to produce high grade specimens is not suclt an easy 

 matter, if it were, evei'vone could and iii'ohably would do so. 

 But if the breeders would breed their birds along more definite 

 lines and not trust to sheer hick our show rooms would be 

 filled with far superior specimens and our commercial squab 

 plants ^\•ould ship far lietter squalis to market than they are now- 

 doing. 



In making a careful study of this subject I believe that tlio 

 following are the most important principles that we are con 

 cerned with in pigeon breeding: 



1. Variation. 



2. Atavism. 



3. Contamination. 



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