i National Standard Squab Book. 51 
ing). When (1) a brother is mated to sister or (2) a father to a daughter, 
or (3) a mother to a son, or (4) a grandson to his grandmother, etc., that 
is inbreeding. We know it is forbidden by law for human beings to mate 
in that manner, because (a) God in the Scriptures has forbidden it, and 
(b) because the State does not wish to have to care for the puny, weak- 
minded offspring that would result from such unions.. We all know that 
the marriages of cousins often result in demented, diseased children. Now 
suppose you buy two dozen pairs of pigeons of us, and number them Pairs 
1 to 24. If you mate the offspring of Pair 2 (or any other pair) to the off- 
spying of Pair 1 (or any other pair) that is outbreeding. What you do 
not do, and what you try to prevent, is the mating of the offspring of 
Pair No. 1 (or any other pair) to each other. So, you see, if you have 
a dozen or two pairs, you need never inbreed,. for there is an infinite 
variety of matings possible. Breeders of animals sometimes inbreed pur- 
posely in order to get better color of fur or plumage, or finer bones, etc., 
but what is gained in these respects is lost in size and stamina. Fowls 
hatched from studied inbreedings often are so weak that their progress 
across the barnyard is like the tottering, falling progress of a drunkard. 
There are no brothers and sisters in the flocks we sell. If you buy one 
dozen or twenty dozen pairs of breeders of us, the pairs will be unrelated, 
and you need never inbreed. 
