Chap. XVII. 



EVIL FROM INTERBREEDING. 



125 



weight. Mr. Clark does not seem to have bred from brothers and sisters, 

 which is the most injurious kind of union ; and he found, after repeated 

 trials, that there was a greater reduction in weight in the young from a 

 father paired with his daughter, than from a mother with her son. I may- 

 add that Mr. Eyton, of Eyton, the well-known ornithologist, who is a largo 

 breeder of Grey Dorkings, informs me that they certainly diminish in size, 

 and become less prolific, unless a cross with another strain is occasionally 

 obtained. So it is with Malays, according to Mr. Hewitt, as far as size is 

 concerned. 28 



An experienced writer 29 remarks that the same amateur, as is well 

 known, seldom long maintains the superiority of his birds ; and this, he 

 adds, undoubtedly is due to all his stock " being of the same blood ;" 

 hence it is indispensable that he should occasionally procure a bird of 

 another strain. But this is not necessary with those who keep a stock of 

 fowls at different stations. Thus, Mr. Ballance, who has bred Malays for 

 thirty years, and has won more prizes with these birds than any other 

 fancier in England, says that breeding in-and-in does not necessarily cause 

 deterioration ; " but all depends upon how this is managed." " My plan 

 " has been to keep about five or six distinct runs, and to rear about 

 " two hundred or three hundred chickens each year, and select the best 

 " birds from each run for crossing. I thus secure sufficient crossing to 

 " prevent deterioration." s0 



We thus see that there is almost complete unanimity with poultry- 

 breeders that, when fowls are kept at the same place, evil quickly follows 

 from interbreeding carried on to an extent which would be disregarded 

 in the case of most quadrupeds. On the other hand, it is a generally 

 received opinion that cross-bred chickens are the hardiest and most easily 

 reared. 31 Mr. Tegetmeier, who has carefully attended to poultry of all 

 breeds, says 32 that Dorking hens, allowed to run with Houdan or Crevecoeur 

 cocks, "produce in the early spring chickens that for size, hardihood, 

 " early maturity, and fitness for the market, surpass those of any pure 

 " breed that we have ever raised." Mr. Hewitt gives it as a general rule 

 with fowls, that crossing the breed increases their size. He makes this 

 remark after stating that hybrids from the pheasant and fowl are con- 

 siderably larger than either progenitor : so again, hybrids from the male 

 golden pheasant and hen common pheasant " are of far larger size than 

 either parent-bird." 33 To this subject of the increased size of hybrids I 

 shall presently return. 



With Pigeons, breeders are unanimous, as previously stated, that it is 

 absolutely indispensable, notwithstanding the trouble and expense thus 

 caused, occasionally to cross their much-prized birds with individuals of 

 another strain, but belonging, of course, to the same variety. It deserves 



as < The p ou it r y Book,' by W. B. 

 Tegetmeier, 1866, p. 79. 



2<j 'The Poultry Chronicle,' 1854, vol. 

 i. p. 43. 



:ffl 'The Poultry Book,' by W. B. 

 Tegetmeier, 1866, p. 79. 



31 ' The Poultry Chronicle,' vol i p 

 89. 



32 ' The Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 210 



33 Ibid. 1866, p. 167; and 'Poultry 

 Chronicle,' vol. hi., 1855, p. 15. 



