JUDGING AT SHOWS. 53 



deservedly in favour of the latter, who only took the third prize. In any case, 

 however, these decisions are not consistent, and indicate that even an acknowledged 

 good judge should assist his memory with paper and pencil ; and at the same time 

 add to the knowledge of his supporters by giving them the benefit of his opinions, 

 not only as to the prize winners as a whole, but of their respective points when 

 dissected and analysed by him. In practice it has been sometimes found that this 

 use of the pencil has led to a great expenditure of time, and at the show of bulldogs 

 held under the auspices of the club devoted to that breed, the judge retired for 

 some hours, in order to cast up his accounts. Such a proceeding, however, is wholly 

 unnecessary, unless the judge is unable to do a sum of simple addition ; for surely 

 it is easier to estimate the proportionate value of any individual head or back, 

 as compared with fifteen or ten, in the dog's presence than in his absence; and, if 

 so, what is the use of retiring ? We contend, from practical experience, that, in 

 judging five or six selected dogs near together in merit, it is the simplest and 

 quickest plan to judge numerically by points, and we have not the slightest doubt 

 that before long no other will be used. 



" Lastly, we have to consider the best method of election, the choice lying 

 between that by the votes of the subscribers, that by the committee of management 

 made at the last moment, and that by the committee announced at the time of 

 publishing the programme. All these plans have been tried, and experience has 

 shown that there are drawbacks to each, to which it is very difficult to assign an 

 exact value. For this reason, we shall not therefore venture to give a decided 

 opinion on the present occasion." 



In addition to the cases mentioned above, numerous instances have occurred 

 in which the advantages of judging by points, had it been acted upon, would 

 have been made manifest; and in the present absence of all written law in 

 many breeds I do not see how it is possible to prevent the recurrence of such 

 cases. A well-known instance of the difficulties connected with judging by rule 

 of thumb occurred some few years ago in the large pointer bitch class at 

 Birmingham. One of the bitches, which we will call A., had a bad head and 

 very light ears, combined with a strong useful middle, but spoilt by short 

 shoulders. In addition, she had good legs and feet, an elegant stern, well 

 carried, and an absence of quality, her age being eighteen months, when a small 

 bitch is fully developed. Another, B., showed a better head, but inferior legs 

 and feet, a coarse stern, and a heavy, lumbering middle. A third, C., exhibited 

 a magnificent head, beautiful ears, capital legs and feet, fine stern, good shoulders, 

 with great liberty of action; but these fine points were counterbalanced by a 

 deficient girth of chest, for which, being only twelve months old, some considerable 

 allowance should be made, the judges having a statement of the age of each 

 animal on their books for this special purpose. Here, then, -was a case of some 

 difficulty, and though I do not agree with the award, I by no means assert that 

 it was decidedly wrong. But, supposing, for the sake of argument, the pointer 

 were said to have five properties, viz., 1, head and neck; 2, legs and feet; 



