300 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



whose birds did not win usually wanted to know how their birds 

 compared with the winners. To meet this demand score-card 

 judging was adopted. In this method of judging, the characters 

 to be considered are divided into sections, which are named in 

 order on a card having corresponding blank spaces in which to 

 mark numerical cuts for faults in each section. The score cards 

 used at poultry shows where judging is done by that method do 

 not indicate to which of several possible faults a cut applies, ex- 

 cept that, having one column for shape cuts and another for color 

 cuts, they show in which class the fault appears. In many educa- 

 tional and private score cards the names of the common faults 

 in each section are printed in the space allotted that section, in 

 order that the fault may be accurately checked. The use of cards 

 with so much detail is not practical in ordinary competition. 



The score of a bird judged by the score-card method is the 

 difference between 100 (taken as the symbol of the perfect bird 

 of any variety) and the sum of all the cuts made for faults. The 

 common cuts for faults are ^ for a slight fault, I for a pro- 

 nounced fault, and i ^ for a very bad fault. Occasionally larger cuts 

 are made for serious faults. Theoretically the score is supposed to 

 represent accurately the relation of a specimen to a perfect speci- 

 men, but really scores only represent in a general way the judges' 

 opinions of the relative values of the birds in a class, and in- 

 dicate to the exhibitor where the judge found faults in his bird. 



Exhibition quality and value. The winning of a prize at an 

 important show gives a breeder of fancy birds a standing that 

 he could not otherwise acquire. The greater part of the sales of 

 poultry of this class are made by mail to persons who do not 

 know the breeder personally and do not see his stock until after 

 purchasing. No matter how good his stock may be, those who 

 want to buy will not pay much attention to his claims for its 

 superior quality until they have such confirmation of those 

 claims as is given by the winning of prizes in competition. 

 Then the prices which a breeder can get for his stock will be 



