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CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE EXHIBITION GAME FOWL. 



PRECEDING pages have already presented 

 many striking examples of the changes 

 which may be caused by judging, and 

 fashion, and breeding, in the form or type of 

 even the purest races of poultry ; but perhaps 

 there is no case in which such changes are so 

 conspicuously evident as in the subject of this 

 chapter. There is no doubt at all as to the 

 origin of the modern exhibition Game fowl. 

 When cock-fighting became illegal, and poultry 

 shows were in their early popularity, the very 

 same fowls that had been bred for fighting in 

 the pit, were placed in the exhibition pens. The 

 Old English Game fowl of the preceding chapter, 

 was also the e.xhibition Game fowl as known at 

 that day. The colours shown were the same 

 colours, and the fowls were the same fowls ; and 

 it was, in point of fact, not at all unusual for 

 the many who still occasionally practised 

 cocking on the quiet, to exhibit birds which 

 had fought, or to fight birds which had been 

 shown with success. And so long as exhibi- 

 tion was chiefly confined to the old school 

 of Game breeders, the birds continued to be 

 shown with but little change. 



But as Game fowls began to be shown more 

 and more by persons who never fought them 

 nor dreamed of ever doing so, change inevitably 

 crept in, from causes fully e.xplained 

 Development in the earlier chapters of this work. 

 E^^ibftion Judging, as well as breeding, no 

 Game Fowl, longer remained in the hands of the 

 old cockers, and details of mere ap- 

 pearance began to be more studied, both in regard 

 to colour and form. In regard to both points, 

 change at first was very moderate, and it crept 

 in gradually, by insensible degrees. Exhibitors 

 and judges understood that the Game fowl was 

 different somehow from the breeds which were 

 often termed in comparison the " heavy cart 

 horse style" ; the tendency was natural to prefer 

 somewhat the taller and more reachy birds; 

 and to a certain extent the modified type did, 

 especially while confined to the earlier and 

 more moderate degree, appeal to even the 

 general public with a beauty of its own, and 

 was welcomed by many for the very reason 



that it was somewhat distinct from the original 

 cock-fighting model. The following remarks, 

 written by the late Mr. John Douglas, who 

 exhibited many winners both for himself and 

 for the Duke of Newcastle, for the first edition 

 of The Ilbtstratcd Book of Poultry, are well 

 worth quoting as evidence of what had taken 

 place up to that time, and how far change 

 had then proceeded : — 



I am very sorry to see every now and then some 

 novice or old antiquated breeder stating that the Game 

 fowl has deteriorated within this last fifteen or twenty 

 years. I myself have kept Game for about forty years ; 

 and when lawful to fight cocks have carried my Game 

 cock to school to fight, and many is the three days' 

 fighting I have seen in the town-hall, with magistrates 

 for the principals ; and I have even myself, when a 

 boy, had a cock-fight with the head magistrate's cock, 

 and won. Many is the main I have seen between one 

 end of the town and the other ; also town against 

 town, and two or three battles a week the whole winter 

 through. At night, after a hunt day, I have seen many 

 a battle for more money that I should like to name. 

 In those days we studied nothing but the blood. So 

 the cock was " game," we neither looked for symmetry 

 nor beauty of plumage ; but still, at the same time, 

 when we did happen to get a nice symmetrical bird, 

 we prided ourselves on him greatly, and seldom but he 

 turned out a "clipper" in the pit. The main point is 

 a firmness of flesh and great muscular power, with the 

 least lumber ; and many of our present exhibitors have 

 often heard remarked from those who still often see 

 birds in the pit, " What a nice, conmianding, 'reachy' 

 cock 1 — not one of the thick clumsy louts ; but nice and 

 springy, and fit to fight for his life ! " Those who keep 

 harping on the point that our Game fowls are not so 

 good as they were, should tell us in what points they 

 are not so good. They say they do not want them for 

 the pit, and never saw a fight, nor do they want to see 

 one ; what then do they want ? 



For my own part I consider there has been more 

 improvement in the Game fowl than in any fowl we 

 have within the last thirty years, if we place perfection 

 in beauty, symmetry, purity of feather, more muscle, 

 less but stronger bone, and more hardness of flesh. I 

 consider we have discarded cumbersome flesh laid on 

 where not wanted, got more muscle, more symmetry, 

 purity of feather, and everything more pleasing to the 

 eye. I cannot understand what people want. There 

 is the " game " in them now, that will stand to be cut 

 up if wanted ; though sorry should I be to have to 

 witness a grand and beautiful bird disfigured for that 

 purpose. In the fields or yards, however, the Game 

 cock is just as vigilant and fearless as he was thirty 

 years ago ; and hens at the present day are just aa 



