OUTWARD QUALIFICATIONS 387 



20 males little, if any, discrimination is found, and the fertility 

 of the eggs should run ninety-five per cent or better. 



The same general ratio applies to the heavier breeds, but in no 

 case can they be expected to equal the Mediterraneans in the 

 matter of fertility. The heavier breeds have a more sluggish 

 nature, and they are naturally less active fowls. From the 

 writer's experience, sixty-five per cent fertility in the Asiatics 

 is equal to seventy-five per cent in the Americans, or ninety-five 

 per cent in the Mediterraneans. 



In selecting males for breeding purposes the first qualities to 

 be coiisid^red are those in plainest evidence, in other words, the 

 general appearance of the birds. If a specimen has malformed 

 feet, wry tail or serious squirrel tail, brassiness or other color 

 defects, lopped comb or exceedingly ponderous or poorly shaped 

 comb, under-developed ear lobes or wattles, or if a bird is ab- 

 normally large or small, noticeably disproportionate and un- 

 gainly, it goes without further argument that he shoOld be dis- 

 carded. 



A fowl's actions is one of the best guides to its breeding ability. 

 Males that are too greedy, or those that are so gallant that they 

 will not eat until the hens have helped themselves, are likely to 

 prove of little value in the breeding pen. The former are apt to 

 become over-fat, due to over-feeding, and the latter under-fed 

 and anemic. Crowing is an excellent indication of vigor and 

 vitality, and should always be borne in mind in selecting breeding 

 males. It characterizes physical strength and masculinity. The 

 desirable breeding cockerel is always on the alert, strikingly erect 

 in carriage, aristocratic and combative — a good fighter, and one 

 who believes in crowing about it. Fear and physical weakness 

 usually go together. A cowardly bird, or one that becomes 

 unduly excited, which amounts to a rattle-brained nature, should 

 never be placed in the breeding pen. He is too apt to be a 

 degenerate. 



Some Naked Truths. — Selecting breeders from the fancier's 

 point of view — the show room — is more discriminating, perhaps, 

 than for commercial purposes, yet it is also more superficial. 



