THE BREEDS 53 



what happens under domestication. . . . Austen shows 

 that whereas the wild Mallard duck in a state of nature 

 lays only twelve to eighteen eggs in the year, it will lay from 

 eighty to one hundred, if they are removed as fast as laid 

 and the bird kept confined in a pen at night. Hauke, 

 by regularly removing the eggs, got forty-eight in succession 

 from a common wryneck. Wenzel in the same way brought 

 a house sparrow's productivity up to fifty-one eggs." 



It is probable, however, that the practice of frequent 

 gathering has long since reached its limit of effectiveness and 

 that further improvement will be reached through breeding, 

 supplemented by proper feeding. 



Increased fecundity has -caused longer periods of time to 

 elapse between seasons of broodiness. In general, it may be 

 said that the broodiness of a breed is in inverse proportion 

 to its fecundity. With the Mediterranean breeds this is 

 true to such an extent that the Leghorns are frequently 

 termed a non-setting breed. 



The increasingly general use of the incubator is having 

 the result of further discouraging the exercise of the maternal 

 instinct. Where incubators are employed, the effort is likely 

 to be to " break up" the broody hen with the hope that less 

 time will be lost from laying. 



The vitality of the race has been lowered largely through 

 combined poor selection and inbreeding. With the breeds, 

 the practice has been to choose as breeders those birds which 

 show the breed type or color characteristics to the greatest 

 degree even though they are not physically fit. Combined 

 with this has been the effect of inbreeding these individuals 

 to fix their characteristics and the promiscuous inbreeding 

 that often accompanies the mongrel flock. 



Classes, Breeds, and Varieties. — ^The breed is the basis of 

 the classification of poultry. It may be defined as a group of 

 domestic birds closely approaching a certain specific shape. 

 The breed name is the one identifying any well defined and 

 recognized type, such as Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, 

 Leghorn, Brahma, or Runner, and the birds conforming 

 closely to those types are said to be members of those respec- 

 tive breeds. 



