406 The Canary Book. 



the exhibitor; he will then communicate the fact to the 

 owner. It sometimes happens that a bird is taken ill at the 

 last moment, and not forwarded to a show in consequence. 

 In such a case the exhibitor ought to intimate the fact to the 

 secretary, but this is rarely done. Those birds which are 

 sent in wrappers or other covers must be carefully dealt 

 with. Before the birds are unpacked someone should be 

 appointed to take charge of and fold up the wrappers and 

 tie the address labels for the return journey outside of them. 

 The number of birds packed in each wrapper should be 

 marked upon the label, for some fanciers who make large 

 entries are often necessitated to send their birds in two or 

 three separate packages. As soon as the wrappers are 

 properly folded and labelled they should be stowed away in 

 a, secure place and neatly arranged. It is a bad plan to have 

 too many assistants in unpacking. There should be one person 

 to open the packages ; another to place the chalk numbers on 

 the cages. The secretary should tick off the entries himself* 

 A fourth person ought to be deputed to arrange the birds in 

 their proper classes; a fifth to feed and give them water. 

 More helpers than these are superfluous, and likely to be 

 productive of mischief. 



The secretary must be firm in keeping order among those 

 officials entrusted to perform the various duties mentioned, 

 and should prevent undue interference by one assistant with 

 another, or other kind of obstructiveness. 



LATE ENTRIES. There are sure to be some late entries. 

 By this I mean birds entered for competition after the 

 stipulated time, and after you have arranged your catalogue 

 in manuscript. Such entries are very troublesome, but it is 

 quite optional with the secretary, whether he accepts them or 

 not; in fact, I am not sure if he is legally justified in 

 doing so without a proviso in the regulations to enable him 

 to do it. About four years ago I introduced a system of 

 post entries, charging an additional fee of sixpence for each 

 entry for so many days after that specified for the ordinary 

 closing, and I should like to see this plan more generally 

 adopted, as fanciers who neglect to send their entries at the 



