This is the first of a series of laboratory notebooks recording Bateson and Punnett’s experiments in poultry breeding. It begins with a list of the original birds used for breeding, and an index of where they appear later in the book [page 1r]. From these stocks there seem to be four breeding lines labelled A, B, C and D, with individual progeny from each line given a number e.g. D 48.

The histories of the founding birds are recorded, along with details of their physical characteristics and summaries of chicks hatched alive. These are followed by notes on each chick: their colour, comb, weight and other physical characteristics (e.g. crooked feet), state of health, cause of death, etc. Occasional sketches of heads or combs of birds are included [pp. 18v, 41v, 42, 110v]. An entry dated Christmas Eve 1898 records that one bird was ‘killed and eaten’ [page 4].

The notebooks at [MS Add.10161/1/1/2 - MS Add.10161/1/1/4] continue the record of these breeding lines.