EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 301 



regulated largely by the prices obtained by other successful 

 exhibitors at shows of the same class. 



There is a wide range of prices from those that can be 

 secured for stock of the quality that wins at the greatest shows, 

 to those that can be obtained for the kind that wins at ordinary 

 small shows. High prices are paid for noted winners and for 

 other stock of the same breeding, as much for the advertising 

 value of ownership of fine stock as for the actual value of the 

 birds to breed from or to exhibit again. A breeder who wins at 

 some very small show may find it hard to sell either stock or 

 eggs for hatching except at a slight advance over market prices. 

 Some breeders who have made remarkable records in winning 

 at the best shows can get very high prices for their prize-winning 

 stock and for the eggs from it. Fowls sometimes sell as high as 

 $500 each, and eggs at $2 each. Pigeons also bring very high 

 prices at times, although fewer people are interested in them 

 and sales are not so numerous. The ordinary prices for good 

 stock are quite reasonable, considering how few really fine speci- 

 mens are produced. The average novice finds that fowls at from 

 $10 to $25 a trio and pigeons at from $5 to $15 a pair have all 

 the quality that he can appreciate. 



In the early days of modern fancy poultry culture those 

 breeders who had great reputations could get relatively high 

 prices for almost any bird that would pass as a breeding speci- 

 men of its kind. This is still true of breeders who successfully 

 introduce new varieties or who suddenly attain prominence with 

 stock of their own breeding. But as the stock of a leading 

 breeder becomes widely distributed among smaller breeders, the 

 competition of his customers reduces his sales, and especially 

 the sales of the cheaper grades of stock. The most troublesome 

 problem that the best breeders have is to get rid of the lower 

 grades of their stock at a fair profit. 



Why good breeders have much low-priced stock. Novices in 

 the breeding of fine stock commonly suppose that all pure-bred 



