THE CROSSING, &C, OF PIGEONS AND FOWLS. 259 



p. 135, with respect to the extent to which cock -fight- 

 ers found that they could venture to breed in-and-in, 

 viz., occasionally, a hen with her own son ; ' but they 

 were cautious not to repeat the in-and-in breeding.'" 



Again he says, on the same page : 



"Mr. Wright states that Mr. Clark, 'whose fighting- 

 cocks were so notorious, continued to breed from his 

 own kind, till they lost their disposition to fight, but 

 stood to be cut up, without making any resistance, 

 and were so reduced in size, as to be under those 

 weights required for the best prizes ; but on obtaining 

 a cross from Mr. Leighton, they again resumed their 

 former carriage and weight.' It should be borne in 

 mind, that game-cocks, before they fought, were always 

 weighed, so that nothing was left to the imagination, 

 about any reduction or increase in weight. Mr. Clark 

 does not seem to have bred from brothers and sisters, 

 which is the most injurious kind of union. * * I 

 may add that Mr. Eyton, of Eyton, the well-known 

 ornithologist, who is a large breeder of Gray Dork- 

 ings, informs me, that they certainly diminish in size, 

 and become less prolific, unless a cross with another 

 strain is occasionally obtained. So it is with Malays, 

 according to Mr. Hewitt, as far as size is concerned." 



"We thus see," Darwin continues, "that there is 

 almost complete unanimity, with poidtry breeders, 

 that when Fowls are kept at the same place, evil 

 quickly follows from interbreeding carried on to any 

 extent, which would be disregarded in the case of 

 most quadrupeds. On the 6ther hand, it is a gener- 

 ally received opinion that cross-bred chickens are the 

 hardiest, and most easily reared. Mr. Tegetmeier, 

 who has carefully attended to poultry of all breeds, 

 says that Dorking hens allowed to run with Houdan, 

 or Crevecceur cocks, 'produce, in the early spring, 



