230 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY 



around," one point. Now take a Minorca with a 

 twisted comb and two spikes too many, enough 

 to give him what in England are called "pencil" 

 serrations ; one point deducted for the pair of 

 them, or three points in all if, beside, his comb 

 " turns around " at the back and has a thumb 

 mark, still leaves him 97 points, though no 

 breeder would have him at a gift. This is 

 perfectly absurd, and sheds considerable light 

 upon " intrinsic value " and the high American 

 scores. There is plenty more of the same sort. 

 Take absence of sickles in a cock ; the judge is 

 requested for that to cut one point for each. 

 Take, again, an absolutely bare middle toe in 

 Brahmas ; the judge is to cut one point for 

 each — each foot we presume. Take, again, 

 eyes : for permanent " injury " he is to cut half 

 a point ; for an eye totally " destroyed, leaving 

 only the socket," one and a half points. It is 

 manifest enough that such trivial deductions for 

 such faults are merely nonsenical, and cannot 

 give judging which will permanently satisfy.* 

 Some alteration will inevitably become neces- 

 sary, sooner or later ; but whether in the direc- 

 tion of comparison judging, or in somewhat 

 drastic revision of the number of points to be 

 cut, and consequent general lowering of the 

 scores, it is at present impossible to say. 



It will be found, in fact, by anyone who 

 will take the trouble to work the problem 

 out between three or four of the best pens in a 

 good class, that such small cuts as are usual 

 in America entirely upset the proportionate 

 value of sections as laid down in a standard. 

 Any point that is given great weight in the 

 table of points, such as perhaps 25 points, 

 has not its proper value in the judging unless, 

 for serious fault, really heavy cuts are made 

 in it. A curious proof of the small degree 

 in which many American breeders and judges 

 have realised this is the fact that Mr. I. K. 

 Felch publishes a " decimal " score card of 

 his own, and urges it on all possible occasions . 

 for universal use. In this, every variety of 

 every breed is divided into ten sections', each 

 valued ten points. Several authorities have 

 commented on the proposal to give the same 

 part equal weight in all breeds, which every 

 breeder knows is not so in fact ; but the curious 

 thing is, that it never seems to have occurred 

 to either those who attacked this card, or to 



* One poultry periodical remarked (September, 1900), " The 

 tendency in the past among judges has been to score too high, 

 and 96-point birds have been numerous, but we believe that 

 fanciers now realise the fallacy of these inflated scores." Another, 

 the most thorough-going of all in advocacy of the score card, writes, 

 " No doubt we have in this country many birds scored too high ; 

 some of our best breeders say that all our birds are scored too 

 high.- 



the patentee himself, that such a decimal set of 

 points, honestly applied, would radically alter 

 the judging from what it is under points widely 

 different in proportion. It is assumed on all 

 sides that the result in placing birds would be 

 the same ; and probably it would, in practice ; 

 but such a result would be due to the trifling, 

 perfunctory, unpropovtionate character of cuts 

 for defects as carried out hitherto in much of 

 American scoring. 



Until the last few years, curiously enough, 

 American judging differed from English on the 

 side of strictness. In England, with some ex- 

 ceptions, as a broad rule the judge 

 American formerly went by the plumage 



Strictness. seen, and took little or no account 

 of what was beneath the surface. 

 In America, just as here now, stress has always 

 been laid upon the plumage being barred, or 

 buff, or whatever it is, " down to the skin." At 

 the great Chicago show of 1899 there was 

 shown a beautiful Wliite Plymouth Rock pullet, 

 by common consent the best in the class, and by 

 many thought the best ever seen up to that time. 

 After she had " scored " out, well on top, the 

 judge happened to pass his hand through the 

 plumage, and found one feather near the root 

 of the tail, with a bar across it halfway down — 

 a sign of the barred descent. It did not show in 

 the least, and there was but this one speck all 

 over her. But the standard gives amongst its 

 general disqualifications, " in all white varieties 

 any feather on a specimen having positive black 

 or red in any part of the plumage," and the 

 judge disqualified her. Some upheld him, 

 other protested ; the veteran Mr. I. K. Felch 

 said if he had been the judge he would have 

 pulled that feather out and said nothing ; then 

 many of course sat upon him for that. An 

 English judge in those days would have 

 ignored such a feather, unless he too had gone 

 over to the Felch view. Sound undercolour, 

 however, is a necessity in the light of present 

 day judging, and a bird without it stands little 

 chance of success in the show pen with any 

 competent judge. 



It is admitted by all, now, that a recognised 

 standard is both necessary and of the highest 

 use. To begin with, it defines a variety beyond 

 dispute. A judge by the comparison system 

 often meets cases of real difficult}' — much more 

 often now than formerly ; and in such cases the 

 actual addition of points will guide him to a 

 sound decision. Study of it will train a judge, 

 and teach him to seek and to find reasons for 

 preferring one bird to another. It will show an 

 experienced breeder about his fair chance of 

 winning. It is a canon to which criticism mav 



