PIGEOXS A XI) ALL AlioTT THEM. 41 



to my loft. There was one good bird in the l.t, ly the wuy. 

 The rest I could beat to death in my own lot't. But I had the 

 experience, and paid for it as usual. 



I do not mean to suggest that all the English and Scotch 

 fanciers are not houorabl". in fact I know of several that are 

 absolutely fair and squaie, but the great majority arc tricks 

 ters who have the happy faculty of 4> weeding out" every 

 bird they don't want, when they get an order from America, 



No fanciers on earth can get their birds in better condition, 

 and none can '"fake" birds so skilfully as our cousins across 

 the water, and it is a well known fact that birds that have 

 even reached this side in good condition, have soon ' gone to 

 pieces " or have, after their first moult, or after new feathers 

 have had a chance to grow, shown the effects of the most 

 palpable trickery in " pi licking." It is also a fact that in 

 England and Scotland, especially at the small shows, where 

 breeders of no standing are apt to show, the hardest work of 

 the judge is, notto find the best bird, but to find the best bird 

 that is shown fairly. 



The best fanciers on the other side have taken vigorous 

 steps to stop all this fraud, but they are far in the minority, 

 for the great masses of the small breeders are tricky and cjn- 

 sider it not only not dishonest, but an evidence of superior 

 smartness, to be able to get a faked bird past a judge. 



Remember I am not speaking of those honorable English 

 and Scotch fanciers whose good names are a household word 

 among our fanciers, but of the dirty little pettifoggers who 

 swarm in the fancy in Great Biitain. and they unfortunately, 

 are liable to be the very ones to entrap the unsophisticated 

 American fancier who decides to import. 



