cocker's manual. 31 



seek color but strength and endurance with all the good fighting qual- 

 ities. Color, as will be observed, is of secondary importance and 

 should not be preferred to the essential requisites for the pit. It is- 

 generally considered that a cross fowl is best for this purpose and for 

 this reason the breed selected to cross with must be equally as good 

 and better if possible in their fighting qualities than those possessed 

 by the breed intended to be crossed. In the selections made it is 

 hardly needful to be remarked that great caution should be observed, 

 for it is frequently the case that some games are good billers but very- 

 poor strikers, and such it is hardly desirable to breed from. A selec- 

 tion should be made of a well tested cock of a reliable breed, a good 

 biller and striker, a savage and inveterate fighter, quick in movement 

 and who shows no quarter to his antagonist. Breeders for the pit 

 generally allow three hens to a stag and five hens to a cock. Some, 

 however, prefer only two hens to a cock. 



INFLUENCE OF THE SIEE. 



It is still an unsettled question as to the length of time it is neces- 

 sary to keep a hen after a cock has been changed before the eggs can 

 be set with a certainty of getting chicks sired by the new cock We 

 have seen statements to the effect that a permanent influence resulted 

 from copulation in the case of fowls — that absolute purity of blood 

 could not be depended upon if the hen at any time had run with a 

 cock of different breed. On the other hand, we find with many a 

 cominon impression that impregnation takes place but a short time 

 before the egg is laid. If we wish to be doubly sure we should not 

 breed from a hen until she had finished laying her litter and wishes 

 to set, then we would place her with a cock we desired to breed from. 

 In this way we think we could be more assured that we had the breed 

 we most desired. 



The following was written by a well known western breeder, who 

 has given the subject much careful attention, and which we consider 

 worthy of mention : 



"A correct answer to this question is important to the breeder of 

 high-class poultry, to enable him to know when a breeding hen should 



