1/4 The Illustrated Book of Poultry 



two policemen from the entrance-gate to foight you! The cojiimittee were desirous to hush it up, 

 rather than expose the dehnquent, for the sake of their show ; and consequently there was no 

 present punishment : still, I am glad to state, the injured hen, though ' scarcely able to make a stand 

 of it! to use the words of one of the committee, was eventually (with her companion) the recipient 

 of the first prize. We all know tails of winning cocks have been purposely pulled out on their 

 success being first known at shows, and ofttimes within even a' few moments of the awards being 

 announced, by whom, of course, it was next to impossible to establish. There stood the injured 

 birds, as reliable data it had been done certainly by some one, and not as generally urged — 

 by 'nobody! 



" I most willingly admit there are quite as honourable individuals among the poultry-men 

 of those exhibitors who show extensively as in any other classes of society ; and I verily believe 

 as strictly conscientious feeling is often displayed by the inmate of the cottage as of the castle : yet 

 I cannot but urge that as these black .sheep do occasionally intrude themselves, let the rule be, 

 all out till opening time, and then, with such proviso, no hurt to any fowls can ensue from the 

 spleen and disappointment of competitors, be they whom they may ; for when the show is well 

 filled with visitors such practices will rarely if ever be attempted, conscience, as a general rule, 

 making cowards of the guilty. 



" Again, another point. Birds I am confident have at times been changed, prior to, during, 

 and immediately upon the completion of the judging, to obtain surreptitiously some much- 

 coveted premium. This, it appears to me, might also be checkmated to some extent by 

 committees refusing any one admission until the awards are completed ; and to obtain this 

 desirable object also leads to another suggestion against these corrupt practices, striking as they 

 do at the very life-source of our poultry shows, and which in some hands I am really at a 

 loss to characterise in words as strongly as deserved. It is this :— Independently altogether 

 of the judges doing so, let one of the committee go round and mark down all the empty pens in a 

 note-book before the judges commence their duties. It will always be expedient to leave this 

 ' checking off' to the last moment, even if he and the arbitrators both begin together ; but as 

 he would have nothing to do whatever with the awards or relative excellence of the pens on 

 exhibition, a minute or two would send the committee-man far ahead of the prize-giving officials, 

 and would render any after-conflict of assertion as to empty pens impossible. 



" Another circumstance that at intervals has given much pain to acting committee-men, 

 has arisen from wilfully displacing the prize-cards ; whether simply from that pure spirit of mischief 

 for which there are individuals who hold an unenviable notoriety, or for baser purposes, it is always 

 difficult to determine. Some of the north-country shows have been especially practised upon in 

 this manner. This might readily be defeated by writing legibly on the different prize and 

 commended cards, before attaching them to the show-pens, the number they hold in the printed 

 catalogue. 



" The return, along with the survivors, of fowls that unfortunately die during a show, for the 

 satisfaction of owners as to the causes of death — the dispatch every evening by post of notice 

 of birds 'claimed' at shows, to allay the anxiety of exhibitors as to their non-return with the 

 other pens — and the rule to prevent committees being held responsible for unforeseen accidents 

 at shows — were suggestions of my own through the press many years back ; and time has not 

 only confirmed their advisability from their general adoption by committees, but also added to my 

 own first conviction of their utility. I hope some of the present hints may prove equally worthj 

 of at least consideration, and if it is supposed any comments I have written are intentionally 

 personal, 1 can only assure ail parlies I had no such motive in their compilation. 



