Embryology. 93 



crop, no matter how good the ground. Again, be the 

 cock a strong, vigorous bird, in the very zenith of his 

 power as a reproducer of his kind, how is it possible 

 for him alone to ensure strong, healthy progeny ? 

 Careful thought has led me to the conclusion that the 

 cock must be equally fit with his mate if we are to get 

 the best results. 



Embryology is a science which has occupied the 

 attention of some of the greatest scientists in the world, 

 and for ages learned professors and doctors have been 

 studying it. Yet with all their skill, all their carefully 

 balanced and delicate instruments, and all their devo- 

 tion, they tell us that the science is even yet in its 

 infancy. This is the conclusion of men who have made 

 it a lifelong study for the sake of benefitting the human 

 race. . If these great and learned authorities are still 

 so much in the dark, and openly acknowledge their 

 lack of knowledge, is it to be wondered at that ordinary 

 fanciers know so little about what to them is one of the 

 most important subjects with which the^^ have to deal ? 



WHY FANCIERS ARE IN THE DARK. 



At the first glance it seems ridiculous that so little 

 is really known bj^ fanciers concerning the mysteries of 

 embryology, yet second thoughts quickly give us a 

 reason why 'tis so. As fanciers we are most earnest in 

 our endeavour to produce, year by year, birds which 

 shall excel in structural, feather, and colour properties 

 the birds of the season immediately preceding. On- 

 ward and upward is the motto of the aspiring fancier, 

 and his whole thought is concentrated on reaching the 

 very apex of perfection as shown forth in the standards 

 governing the variety he is interested in producing in a 

 state of faultless beauty So enamoured is he of his love 

 of the beautiful, the ideal which he has set before him, 

 that he does not stop to consider and think out the 

 weighty and mightv problems of Nature which assist 

 him in climbing the'heights which lie before him . The 

 development of the embryo is hidden from his eyes by 

 the shell in which it is contained, and so valuable are 

 the contents of that shell, that he dare not, he cannot, 

 investigate the processes by which Nature assists him m 



