3-1: Pigeons and Ah, About Theji. 



removed from being prize winners, and bred from the 

 same blood, will, if correctly mated, produce stock 

 generalh' superior to themselves. In mating such 

 birds, one has to carefulh' blend the excellencies and 

 deficiencies of each in such a manner that they are 

 calculated to produce a perfect whole. This process 

 of covering the weak points in one bird b3' the strong 

 ones of its mate is deeply interesting, even as it is 

 generally successful. Further, it is the only way in 

 which a strain can be built up and maintained. A 

 stud of birds got together and managed in the manner 

 indicated must of necessity, sooner or later, 3'ield 

 " what's wanted." Time and patience will be needed 

 in the work, but they will receive great reward if per- 

 severance is added thereto. " Rome was not built in 

 a day," neither can a stud be made in a season. But 

 pedigree will tell. The aim and object of the breeder 

 must be to intensify and increase the good points in 

 his original stock, whilst at the same time he eliminates 

 and reduces the bad ones. 



FIXING THE IDE-\I.. 



In starting a strain, a fancier needs to fix the ideal 

 in his mind, and to let nothing turn him aside there- 

 from. He must keep his mind's eye ever fixed upon 

 it, and plod steadily along until "it is reached. In so 

 doing, he must keep a careful record of all his matings, 

 and each season every bird mated up should have all 

 its faults and excellencies carefully recorded in the stud 

 book. The keejiing of a stud book is absolutely 

 necessary if success is to be achieved. By its aid 

 one is able to avoid making mistakes, because a glance 

 at the stud book shows exactly where the good and 

 bad points in the strain are coming from. iMemorv 

 is not to be compared to a carefully tabulated record, 

 and the man who trusts to memory will never attain 

 the heights of the Fancy. But with carefully selected, 

 related original stock and a stud register, all things 

 become possible. 



