354 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



shows as the judge himself, and some may know even better 

 the strong points of the best birds. Such exhibitors are not 

 kickers, as a rule, and it benefits a judge to associate with them 

 after the show is over. 



First Impressions Are Best. First impressions of any 

 specimen are usually the most reliable, and other things being 

 equal will govern final decisions of the thoroughly competent 

 judge, one who is thoroughly "up" on the breeds or varieties 

 he is called to adjudicate and no other should ever be engaged. 



The real judge is one who plus training and experience 

 has a natural instinct for discerning the best, which a noted 

 English authority claims is a quality given to but few men 

 and fewer women, adding: "Well do I remember many years 

 ago one such man, though there have been several others, but 

 I mention him because he seldom acted as judge, although one 

 of the best I ever knew. Put before him a dozen birds or 

 animals of any breed, even though he had never seen the like 

 before, and he would assuredly pick the winners, placing them 

 in correct order. He had the instinctive capacity which enabled 

 him to gauge the type and idealize it." 



This bears out the adage: "Judges are born not made," 

 but which does not imply that training and experience are 

 not required, for without these valuable assets, no man should 

 accept the position of judge of important classes at any exhi- 

 bition of poultry. 



It is the experienced eye of the judge that selects, often 

 at first glance, the bird which stands out among all the rest 

 and this one and the others must be measured by the Standard 

 ideal as it exists in the mind of the judge, provided on closer 

 inspection no serious defects are discovered, which would debar 

 them from winning. We call attention to this because some 

 good breeders, who have attempted to pass judgment on poultry 

 in the show room, have failed to look at the good points of the 

 fowl but have started right off hunting for defects. They wanted 

 all that was bad and overlooked all that was good in the 

 birds. 



As an illustration, we will cite the case of an old and noted 

 breeder who did not think the judge placed his Buff Leghorn 

 cockerels correctly, contending that the second and third prize 

 birds were better than his first, just because the latter had a 

 tinge of bluish-gray in the undercolor of the back. Yet this 

 cockerel was far superior in surface color and shape to the 

 other two. All the owner could see was one little hidden defect 



