Chap. VII. THEIR PARENTAGE. 231 



goes for little. Fanciers look to all parts of the world as 

 the possible sources of their un known stocks ; thus ignoring the 

 laws of geographical distribution. They know well that the 

 several kinds breed truly even in colour. They assert, but, as 

 we shall see, on very weak grounds, that most of the breeds 

 are extremely ancient. They are strongly impressed with the 

 great difference between the chief kinds, and they ask with 

 force, can differences in climate, food, or treatment have produced 

 birds so different as the black stately Spanish, the diminutive 

 elegant Bantam, the heavy Cochin with its many peculiarities, 

 and the Polish fowl with its great top-knot and protuberant 

 skull ? But fanciers, whilst admitting and even overrating the 

 effects of crossing the various breeds, do not sufficiently regard 

 the probability of the occasional birth, during the course of 

 centuries, of birds with abnormal and hereditary peculiarities ; 

 they overlook the effects of correlation of growth — of the long- 

 continued use and disuse of parts, and of some direct result 

 from changed food and climate, though on this latter head I 

 have found no sufficient evidence; and lastly, they all, as 

 far as I know, entirely overlook the all-important subject of un- 

 conscious or unmethodical selection, though they are well aware 

 that their birds differ individually, and that by selecting the 

 best birds for a few generations they can improve their stocks. 



An amateur writes 8 as follows. " The fact that poultry have 

 until lately received but little attention at the hands of the 

 fancier, and been entirely confined to the domains of the pro- 

 ducer for the market, would alone suggest the improbability of 

 that constant and unremitting attention having been observed 

 in breeding, which is requisite to the consummating, in the 

 offspring of any two birds, transmittable forms not exhibited by 

 the parents." This at first sight appears true. But in a future 

 chapter on Selection, abundant facts will be given showing not 

 only that careful breeding, but that actual selection was practised 

 during ancient periods, and by barely civilised races of man. 

 In the case of the fowl I can adduce no direct facts showing 

 that selection was anciently practised ; but the Bomans at the 

 commencement of the Christian era kept six or seven breeds, 

 and Columella " particularly recommends as the best, those sorts 

 8 Ferguson's 'Illustrated Series of Rarean.I Prize Poultry,' 1854, p. vi. Preface. 



