THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



Finally, the system therein adopted, of tabulating 

 points of defect instead of positive merit, has 

 not only been adopted by the Poultry Club of 

 Great Britain, but the American Poultry Associ- 

 ation also, while not adopting it in the scale, has 

 in its "instructions" and the table entitled 

 " Cutting for Defects," practically accepted the 

 idea, as regards actual use of the standard. No 

 one can compare the English and the American 

 standards as used in 1872 with those of to- 

 day, without seeing how these schedules of 

 1874 have influenced both. They were, however, 

 expressly put out as individual and temporary ; 

 and having now accomplished all the purposes 

 hoped for, it is with satisfaction that they are 

 discarded for those adopted by a body having 

 real right to express the opinion of the chief 

 breeders and judges in the United Kingdom. 



The present Poultry Club was established — 

 for it was an entirely new body, not a resuscita- 

 tion of the old — in 1878, mainly by the exertions 

 of the late Mr. Alexander Comyns. 

 The Foi" some years it attracted com- 



Poultry Club's paratively little support, owing to 

 Standard. some undoubted mistakes in policy, 



and various other causes ; but in 

 1886 it issued under his editorship Part I. of 

 a new " Standard of Perfection." This included 

 Cochins, Brahmas, Dorkings, Game, Houdans, 

 Creves, La Fl^che, Courtes Pattes, Polish, 

 Minorcas, Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks, and 

 Andalusians ; and was intended to have been 

 followed by Part II., containing the remaining 

 known breeds. This was, however, hindered by 

 minor causes, and finally prevented for the time 

 by the illness and death of this indefatigable 

 editor and secretary of the Club. By the time 

 the project could be taken up again, English 

 judging itself had perceptibly changed in some 

 respects, the Club had become much stronger and 

 more influential, and it was thought better 

 to undertake a new standard altogether, using 

 and incorporating any existing material, includ- 

 ing many standards already drawn up for single 

 breeds by special clubs, as far as found desirable 

 after conference and consideration. The work 

 was only seriously commenced in 1897, under a 

 Standards Committee appointed by the Club, 

 with Mr. T. Threlford for secretary. Progress 

 was necessarily rather slow, as the number of 

 special clubs who had framed their own stand- 

 ards independently of each other necessitated 

 considerable further labour in reducing the 

 whole to one common method or pattern. But 

 it was finally completed and published in 1901. 

 In 19 10 the entire work was again revised by 

 a small sub-committee, with Mr. W. W. Broom- 

 head as secretary, and these new standards are 



also, by arrangement with the Club, incor- 

 porated in the following pages. 



As regards the proper function, and proper 

 method of using a standard, and the method of 

 judging in itself, there are the widest differences 

 of opinion, ranging chiefly into two 

 The Use of a schools on the two sides of the 

 Standard. Atlantic. All would now agree that 

 the accepted standard should be 

 regarded as the standard or canon of a breed, 

 subject only to detected and obvious acci- 

 dental errors, or to authoritative revision ; and 

 this alone marks distinct advance upon the state 

 of things existing thirty years ago. No judge 

 would now claim a right, as many did then, to 

 ignore the standard altogether. Nevertheless, 

 in England the eye and judgment of experienced 

 and qualified judges have always been preferred 

 in determining awards, and it has never been 

 customary for any of these, that we know of, to 

 consult the standard on the spot. A few judges 

 always have, in cases of doubt only, used scales 

 of points arranged by themselves. The late 

 Mr. W. F. Entwisle furnished us with the scale 

 card for Game and Game Bantams used by him 

 in difficult cases, which we were not surprised, 

 though he was, to find in closest agreement with 

 what we had already drawn up ; and the late 

 Mr. John Douglas also used a scale of his own 

 in similar circumstances, for the same breeds. 

 But in the main such standards as have here- 

 tofore existed in England were regarded as 

 more descriptive than anything else. The 

 definitions have been accepted, but the judging 

 has remained personal, under the system of 

 organised public criticism already reviewed. 



One reason for this was probably the want of 

 authority in previous standards. The framers 

 of the first worked with the avowed idea that 

 the points might be added ; but their number of 

 points was impracticable, and the sponsors were 

 too few in number to have any authority at all. 

 Our own scales never pretended to any, being 

 only intended to pave the way towards some- 

 thing more authoritative, which might, it was 

 hoped, be framed in due time, as is now the case. 

 Hence the English system of personal judging 

 continued of necessity till an authoritative 

 standard should be adopted, and barring occa- 

 sional abuses (which are not confined to this 

 system), we doubt if there is better or more con- 

 sistent judging in the world. But there was 

 another subsidiary reason. Owing to the same 

 absence of authority, there have been consider- 

 able changes in type amongst many breeds. In 

 some respects this is an evil, and when carried to 

 such an extreme as from nearly bare legs ia 

 Asiatics to heavy vulture-hocks, it is absolutely 



