56 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



advantage of such a course of breeding as thai aescribed. Those 

 cardinal points become at last so fixed, as it were, that a bird 

 a few degrees worse in them may occasionally be bred from for 

 the sake of other points which may be wanted. The nature of 

 such a proceeding must, however, be clearly understood. It is 

 simply that the point so fixed is probably only accidentally de- 

 ficient in the chosen bird, which is therefore trusted to " throw 

 back," or revert to it. Obviously such a step should only be 

 taken with great caution, and never repeated through two 

 following generations ; neither should a bird really bad in such 

 a point be ever employed. But a bird not quite so good in the 

 first points may be occasionally risked, though the fact that it 

 is a risk should be clearly understood. 



It may sometimes help to decide such doubtful questions as 

 to the propriety of any given procedure, if we bear in mind that 

 pigeons, on the average, show a decided tendency to revert to 

 the points of the third previous generation, or their yrcma- 

 parents. We have found what seemed to us evidence that some 

 other animals show a similar tendency to revert to the fourth 

 generation, or great-grandparents; while the majority, per- 

 haps, follow the immediate parents. This subject is interesting, 

 and at present rather obscure ; but many practical breeders 

 have noted the tendency in pigeons here described, and the 

 knowledge of it may occasionally be of considerable value in 

 determining a match. 



One thing more has to be said. After all, and with every 

 desire to avoid it, crosses are sometimes necessary. When this 

 is felt, care must obviously be taken to avoid too " sudden " a 

 change of blood, which always brings with it more or less ten- 

 dency to — the breeder never knows exactly what. If, therefore, 

 he can obtain a suitable pigeon from a loft which has a good 

 fraction of the same blood as his own, that will be best. When 

 he cannot, he should pair a selected bird with a good one of his 

 own, the furthest removed his loft can furnish from the family 



