At the present time, eminent breeders try by methodical selection, with
a distinct object in view, to make a new strain or sub-breed, superior
to anything existing in the country. But, for our purpose, a kind of
Selection, which may be called Unconscious, and which results from
every one trying to possess and breed from the best individual animals,
is more important. Thus, a man who intends keeping pointers naturally
tries to get as good dogs as he can, and afterwards breeds from his own
best dogs, but he has no wish or expectation of permanently altering
the breed. Nevertheless I cannot
doubt that this process, continued during centuries, would improve and
modify any breed, in the same way as Bakewell, Collins, etc., by this
very same process, only carried on more methodically, did greatly
modify, even during their own lifetimes, the forms and qualities of
their cattle. Slow and insensible changes of this kind could never be
recognised unless actual measurements or careful drawings of the breeds
in question had been made long ago, which might serve for comparison.
In some cases, however, unchanged or but little changed individuals of
the same breed may be found in less civilised districts, where the
breed has been less improved. There is reason to believe that King
Charles s spaniel has been unconsciously modified to a large extent
since the time of that monarch. Some highly competent authorities are
convinced that the setter is directly derived from the spaniel, and has
probably been slowly altered from it. It is known that the English
pointer has been greatly changed within the last century, and in this
case the change has, it is believed, been chiefly effected by crosses
with the fox-hound; but what concerns us is, that the change has been
effected unconsciously and gradually, and yet so effectually, that,
though the old Spanish pointer certainly came from Spain, Mr. Borrow
has not seen, as I am informed by him, any native dog in Spain like our
pointer.
By a similar process of selection, and by careful training, the whole
body of English racehorses have come to surpass in fleetness and size
the parent Arab stock, so that the latter, by the regulations for the
Goodwood Races, are favoured in the weights they carry. Lord Spencer
and others have shown how the cattle of England have increased in
weight and in early maturity, compared with the stock formerly kept in
this country. By comparing the accounts given in old pigeon treatises
of carriers
and tumblers with these breeds as now existing in Britain, India, and
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