EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 299 



to conceal a fault. In regard to disqualifying for trivial faults, 

 fanciers differ in opinion. Many hold that this has been carried 

 to a ridiculous extreme in some cases. Thus, in all clean-legged 

 fowls it is required that the shanks and toes shall be free from 

 small feathers, stubs, or down. Most fanciers agree that con- 

 spicuous feathers and stubs should disqualify, but many consider 

 that to disqualify for a minute bit of down, which can hardly 

 be seen without the aid of a magnifying glass, is going too far. 



Unless the judge has overlooked a disqualification (and this 

 rarely happens), none will be found on a bird that has been 

 awarded a prize. If in any class there is a bird which is not 

 given a place, though apparently superior to any of the prize win- 

 ners in the characters most distinctive of its variety, that bird 

 usually has some disqualification. The list of disqualifications is 

 too long to be given here. It is not the same throughout for all 

 varieties. Exhibitors and breeders do not attempt to keep track 

 of the disqualifications (which are changed occasionally) for any 

 but the varieties in which they are especially interested. 



Methods of judging. When exhibitions of domestic birds 

 were first held, the awards were usually made by committees of 

 two or three judges. The object in doing this was to insure 

 impartiality and to make connivance between a judge and an 

 exhibitor more difficult. It was found that this plan did not 

 work well. Often the opinions of one man dominated, or, if the 

 man could not have his way, the committee wrangled and took 

 too long to make its decisions. So by degrees the committee 

 plan was abandoned and a single judge made the awards in 

 accordance with standards and rules agreed upon by associations 

 of exhibitors and judges. 



At first all judging was done by comparison of the specimens 

 of each class entered in competition. That is the method still 

 in general use in Europe and widely used in America. But to 

 many exhibitors comparison judging seemed unsatisfactory, be- 

 cause by it only the winning birds were indicated, and exhibitors 



