Ingenuity of Trimmers. 169 



consist in the pulling out of feathers ; which is very hard to establish in some cases, such as the 

 breasts of Hamburghs, though comparatively easy in others, such as abstracted vulture-hocks. 

 The most cruel fraud practised is the sewing-up of, or insertion of needles or pins in combs, to hide 

 defects, which we are sorry to say has been detected on several occasions. Other devices almost 

 challenge admiration for their ingenuity ; and against the insertion of false sickles in particular the 

 judge of Hamburghs and Bantams has especially to be on his guard, a good tail in these breeds 

 being of special importance in competition. Such a tail as is shown in our plate of Silver-pencilled 

 Hamburghs, for-instance, would cause a bird to win almost anywhere if pretty good otherwise; and 

 accordingly, more than one Hambm-gh breeder, even when his best birds are dead, keeps their sickles 

 " for use as required." The old plan was to cut the faulty feathers down to about an inch long, 

 and to affix the new ones with thread, or perhaps cobbler's wax ; but such bungling as this would 

 be laughed at now. The stump is cut down as before to a proper length, but the tube is cleaned 

 out, the end of the "show" feather inserted, and fixed in with a strong transparent cement 

 varnish, or otherwise, so as almost to defy detection. That it does in fact often escape punish- 

 ment may be seen from the following, extracted from a racy address on poultry delivered to 

 an agricultural meeting. We change names, and even initials, in order to prevent identification, 

 and remove any objection to now republishing the painful details : — 



"A clever case of trimming was exposed at a poultry-show last winter. In this county 

 there are two great rival poultry-keepers, more particularly rivals in Hamburgh breeding — 

 Mr. X and Mr. Y. X generally takes the first rank, but last year Y almost invariably distanced 

 his rival in Silver-pencilled Hamburghs.' According to the ' Standard of Excellenc 

 feathers of the cock's tail in this breed must be black, or very dark, with a fihv. v^guii^ ui 

 white, and in this particular the superiority of Y's birds was conspicuous ; and at the show in 

 question they were awarded the first prize. X has a poultry-man named Z, and Z was of 

 course put out at his ill luck, and st^ood ruminating before Y's prize pen. ' His birds are not 

 so good as ours if it wasn't for their sickles, but they're stunning sickles, certainly. I can't 

 make it out how he manages to get them.' Gaining the consent of the attendant, Z contrived to 

 get hold of the bird with the wonderful sickles, and on blowing into the roots of the tail-feathers, 

 lo! the murder was out. 'Well, I'm blow'di' said Z; 'fetch Mr. H.' Mr. H, who was the 

 judge of the poultry at the show, was soon on the spot, when Z pointed out to him how the natural 

 sickle-feathers of the bird had been cut down to the quill, and the beautiful artificial sickles neatly 

 fitted into their place. Mr. H immediately cut off the borrowed plumes, and gibbeted Mr. Y by 

 affixing a notice to the front of the pen, fully describing the fraudulent transaction." 



Our opinions on this subject have long been known. Concerning sucTi frauds as are never 

 discovered nothing need be said ; but in every case of fraud actually detected, unflinching exposure 

 is due to all honest exhibitors. We are sorry to have to add that most committees appear 

 indifferent about the matter, and, in many cases where the judges have fearlessly done i/ieir duty 

 by handing in their certificates of the imposture, have either neglected, or point-blank refused, to 

 place the deserved and ignominious inscription of " Disqualified for fraud " upon the pen. Such 

 moral cowardice trenches on the very verge of complicity; and we confess that our greatest fears 

 for the future of the poultry-fancy lie in this marked unwillingness of the managers of many shows 

 to strengthen the hands of the judges in sternly stamping out as much as can be discovered 

 of this dishonest trickery. If a rule were generally adopted to disqualify at a show all the pens of 

 any exhibitor found guilty of fraud, affixing to all such, and sternly maintaining from obliteration. 



