226 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



hints or training, and much that is published 

 is far from what it ought to be. Unless upon 

 occasions when his notes are signed, and thereby 

 carry the weight of his own name, like the 

 decisions of the judge himself, it is sheer pre- 

 sumption, almost impertinence, for a reporter 

 merely to say that an award is wrong, or that 

 some other bird ought to have received it. We 

 still see more than enough of this ; but it is only 

 dogmatism, and not criticism at all. The latter 

 ought to be so definite and clear that the reader 

 himself can judge to a great extent of the 

 question at issue. A judge almost always has 

 fairly evident reasons for his judgment ; and the 

 reporter's business, whenever he questions this, 

 is to discover and state such points, along with 

 those which in his opinion overrule them. 

 Often the case may be one on which opinions 

 are much divided. When no award is question- 

 ed, much less detail, or even no remark at all, 

 may be necessary ; but all questions really raised 

 should be fairly stated, especially in regard to 

 important classes at an important show. Such 

 a report upon a class, with such a discussion as 

 is likely to follow in any important case, may 

 clear the air and affect breeding operations 

 through the following year. We have often 

 seen this the case, and it is another of the 

 advantages of the modern system of public 

 criticism. 



Taking the whole system as it stands, it 

 may safely be said that, upon the whole, judging 

 is very good, so far as the principal exhibitions 

 are concerned, which very often could not be said 

 of the irresponsible work of pairs of 

 Sources of judges as we knew it in 1S65-75. 

 Present Evils. There must always be some down- 

 right mistakes, and we fear there 

 will always be some downright rascality, both in 

 judging and reporting. It is mainly at smaller 

 shows, which the most able press reporters do 

 not attend, where anything in the shape of gross 

 abuse is practised. It is at such shows that a judge 

 ventures to give prizes to birds he has just sold, 

 or even lent from his own yard, or to the friend 

 who gave liim first prize the other day. It is such 

 shows as chiefly, in order to save adequate fees, 

 employ judges of this stamp, who take low fees, 

 or even act gratis, in order to make their money 

 in other ways. This class of men and their chief 

 colleagues and supporters are perfectly well 

 known, but it is in the absence of publicity that 

 they carry on their operations, and there is a 

 class of shows in England which it would be 

 most desirable to extinguish altogether ; in 

 default of this, the genuine amateur will do well 

 to sedulously avoid appearing at them. But at 

 the majority of important shows the judges are 



competent men who know the breeds they under- 

 take, and who do their best; and these are 

 checked by the keenest eyes in the exhibition 

 world, quick to note any evident miscarriage. 

 Between the two justice is done, and the newest 

 exhibitor, if he shows a good pen, at any of what 

 we may call respectable shows, may beat the 

 veteran of years ; we have seen this happen 

 often. Transcribing a few lines we wrote in the 

 first edition of the Illustrated Book of Poultry, 

 we repeat that " It is not from judges of doubt- 

 ful integrity that the greatest dangers to the 

 poultry fancy are likely to arise, but rather from 

 the reckless and debasing rivalry which, without 

 either honesty or courage, seeks to win as the 

 sole object of keeping fowls, and sticks at no 

 means to accomplish this paltry end." 



The method and standard of judging have 

 been subject to debate for years. It was some 

 time after poultry exhibitions were established 

 before there was any standard at all ; individual 

 judges simply had their own idea of what a 

 given fowl should be, and selected what they 

 considered " best " by the light of nature. This 

 was made possible by the fewer relatively 

 superior birds of those days. These stood out 

 and spoke for themselves, and gradually evolved 

 such type as was recognised, under the few judges 

 who judged practically all the then existing 

 shows, and who therefore had matters almost 

 entirely in their own hands. Their opinion, 

 gradually crystallised during practice, was the 

 first unwritten " standard " of poultry for exhibi- 

 tion, but had no fixed expression. 



About 1865 a Poultry Club was formed in 

 England, but did not secure many adherents, and 

 was speedily wrecked by the personal animosity 

 which developed between one or two 

 The First ^^ ''^^ members. But it issued a 

 Standard of description of the recognised breeds, 

 Excellence. with numerical values for the points, 

 under the title of " The Standard 

 of Excellence," which was a land-mark in the 

 judging of poultry. In spite of many faults, it 

 embodied the principle that fowls ought to be 

 bred to definite points, and judged by them, and 

 that the points could be and ought to be defined. 

 This was a great idea, and a great service, 

 though the first Club's existence was brief and 

 its " standard " very crude. The scales of points 

 only added up to a total of fifteen through all 

 the breeds, which quite shut out the modern 

 system of " cutting " a portion off for defects ; 

 and in the descriptions themselves were several 

 errors — such as attributing red eyes to Malays 

 — which however could scarcely be avoided 

 at that early period. The existing judges 



