THE BREEDING OF FANCY POULTRY. 77 



"Another EitgUsh gentleman, when residing in Canada, Bold his Brahma cock 

 and one hen, allowing the hen left to run afterward with a Spangled Hamburgh 

 oook which had five hens of his own. Every egg laid for ten days produced a 

 pure Brahma chick ; that on the eleventh day was a half-breed. 



"In America a Ilr. Woodward bought in March some Spanish pullets which had 

 been ninning all the winter with a native cock, and, though no eggs were set till 

 two months after purchase, all the chicks even then showed the native, points in a 

 high degree. i 



"Another gentleman breeding Games, finding a neighbor's feather-legged Ban- 

 tam cock come over his fence, penned his fowls in securely, and saved no eggs 

 for a month after ; but several chicks still had feathered legs, though with no 

 other sign of the cross, 



"Mr. E. W. Barnes, of Plympton, allowed a neighbor's Brown Leghorn oook to 

 pass three days among his pen of eight one-year-old Light Brahma pullets, 'for 

 experiment's sake,' he said. The Brown Leghorn cock was removed, and he has 

 never once had anything on his premises since but the Light Brahmas of both 

 sexe.B, 'pure.' From eggs set within a week after the Brown Leghorn cock was 

 sent home, a third of the chicks, when hatched, came brown, speckled-brown, or 

 patched with brown, that same summer. Out of the eight hens he saved four, 

 aind mated them only with a Light Brahma cock, yet more than one quarter of 

 their chicks came spotted, speckled, and splashed with brown feathers for two 

 years after the Brown Leghorn cook was dead. 



"Mr. Charles H. Edmonds, of Melrose, allowed a Sebright cock to mn for a 

 few weeks with his Light Brahma fowls. In the fall his light Brahma chicks 

 were marked with distinct Golden Sebright feathers and for two years succeed- 

 ing the marking showed itself on scores of his chicks, from this very flock of 

 Light Brahmas, when the Sebright cock had been gone from his premises over 

 two seasons." * 



The above are only a few of the examples quoted by Prof^ Miles, and includ- 

 ing horses, cattle, sheep, swine and man, which prove [conclusively the fact — 

 whatever may be the explanation of it — ^that- the influence of the first copulation 

 of the female extends throughout the larger part, if not the whole, of her life. 

 It would seem that this fact might be made use of by skillful breeders in cases 

 ■where it was desired to infuse into a breed some special characteiristics of another 

 breed, such as a greater hardiness of constitution, special markings of plumage 

 etc., in a smaller degree than would result from a complete cross. It has long been 

 customary to "throw in" a cross for such purposes, and then breed it out again, 

 but it would seem that the same result might sometimes be accomplished more 

 quickly by the process indicated. 



Atavism, is another of the mysterious influences which come, sometimes to the 

 assistance, sometimes to the vexation, of the breeder. By atavism is meant the 

 tendency of characteristics of remote ancestors to re-appear in their grandchil- 

 dren, or even in descendants yet more remotely removed, although but slightly 

 manifested, if at all, in the nearer descendants. Or, in other words, the tenden- 

 cy to return to original types of structure and character. This is a form of 



>Stock Breeding, by Manly MUes, p. 269, Et. Seq. 



