210 



SELECTION 



Chap. XX. 



less 



kept distinct merely for ornament. In the Philippines, 

 Lan nine sub-varieties of the game cock are kept and 



named, so that they must be separately bred. 



At the present time in Europe, the smallest peculiarities 



efully attended to in our most useful animals 



fr 



fashion, or as a mark of purity of blood. Many examples could 



be given, two will suffice 



In the Western counties of England 



prejudice against a white pig is nearly as strong 



black one in Yorkshir 



j> 



In one of the Berkshire sub-breeds 



said 



the 



should be confined to four white feet 



ipot between the eyes, and a few white hairs behind 



hundred pigs, 



Marshall. 



69 



" each shoulder." Mr. Saddler possessed " three 

 " every one of which was marked in this manner, 

 towards the close of the last century, in speaking of a chj 

 in one of the Yorkshire breeds of cattle, says the horns ] 

 been considerably modified, as " a clean, small, sharp horn 



b 



been fashionable for the last twenty year 



" 70 



In a part of 



Germany the cattle of the Eace de Gfoehl are valued for many 

 good qualities, but they must have horns of a particular curva- 

 ture and tint, so much so that mechanical means are applied if 



they take 



a * 



direction : but the inhabitants " consider 



of the highest importance that the nostrils of the bull should 



be flesh-coloured, and 



yelashes light ; this 



pensable condition 



A calf with blue nostrils would not be 



purchased, or purchased at a very low price 



71 



Therefor 



man say 



any point or 



too triflin 



be 



methodically attended to and selected by breede 



\ 



) 



Unconscious Selection. — By this term I mean, as already rnon 

 than once explained, the preservation by man of the most valued 



and 



destruction of the least valued individuals, without 



It is 



any conscious intention on his part of altering the breed, 

 difficult to offer direct proofs of the results which follow from 

 this kind of selection ; but the indirect evidence is abundant. 

 In fact, except that in the one case man acts intentionally, and 

 in the other unintentionally, there is little difference between 



69 



Sidney's edit, of Youatt, 1860, pp. 24, 25. 



'° • Kural Economy of Yorkshire/ vol. ii. p. 182. 

 n Moll et Gayot, «Du Bceuf,' 18G0, p. 547. 



i 



