Breeding. 85 



will have been ail that could be desired ; in others, 

 quite the reverse. In the former, of course, it will 

 be wise to leave alone, but in the latter something 

 must be done to see if the ideal which was being 

 aimed for cannot yet be secured ere the season has 

 run its course. 



As an instance of what I mean I will give a case 

 in point. A breeder of red and 3-ellow self Tum- 

 blers, anxious to improve the head properties of his 

 strain, has introduced a cock from another strain, 

 quite equal to^ his own in shape, colour and style, but 

 decidedly better in head. He has mated this bird 

 to a most excellent hen, the best in his stud, but the 

 result has not been what he expected. Certain it is, 

 head and colour have both been improved by the 

 cross, but with this improvement has come a failing 

 hithertO' unknown in the stud — white feathers in the 

 tails of the young. This may have come from the 

 cock, or from the hen. One cannot be sure which. 

 It is most probably a throwing back to some remote 

 ancestor on one side or the other. The white blood 

 has been there all these years, but it has lain latent. 

 The infusion of alien blood has awakened it intO' life, 

 and it has shown itself in the tails of the young. 

 These j'oungsters, of course, are useless as exhibition 

 birds. No matter how they may develop, they can 

 only be used as stock birds, and very carefully even 

 at that. That, however, concerns the future ; the 

 present is what we have to deal with. 



HOW TO DO IT. 



Unless the season is to be wasted, so far as these 

 twO' birds are concerned, they must be dismatched, 

 and fresh mates found for each of them. In doing 

 this they must, as soon as separated, be kept for about 

 a week or ten daj-s, not only out of sight and sound 

 of each other, but also of all other birds, if this is pos- 

 sible. If it is not, then they must certainly be kept 

 out of sight and sound of each other, or they will, 

 although unable to see each other, yet call to one 

 another, and refuse to be comforted by the advances 

 of the fresh mate, which will 'have to be introduced 



