yuDGiNG Game Bantams. 487 



shown much pkicked about the hackle and saddle-feathers. A case of the former kind known to 

 us was almost the only case of trimming we ever met with in which, while condemning an indubit- 

 able breach of morality, we could not help feeling some sympathy for the perpetrator. He had 

 shown his bird in faultless condition, and won the cup, when some dirty scamp plucked the sickles 

 out of jealousy. How the job was managed we do not know, since the natural stumps to which 

 false feathers are generally attached were in this case wanting, but somcJiow — perhaps in the stumps 

 of the top pair of tail-feathers— the bird's own sickles zvcre re-affixed, and he again won, to be 

 afterwards denounced by, and disqualified on the complaint of, the very man who, we have not 

 the slightest moral doubt, did the injury, and therefore knew, as no one else could, of the operation 

 that must have been performed for the bird to be shown again. Some rather strong language 

 was used on that occasion, but we could not resist the conclusion, knowing what we did know, 

 that in this case " there was something to be said on both sides." 



Mr. Entwistle has kindly sent us the following Scale of Points, as used by him in judging for 

 several years. We ought to add that it was sent to us after onv own had been sent to him in type ; 

 and if this be remembered, the agreement in all essential points will be found remarkable, and 

 such as bears a further strong testimony to the accuracy of our own methods of analysis. 



MR. ENTWISTLE'S SCALE OF POINTS FOR GAME BANTAMS. 



Good colour ........... 20 



Good symnietiy .......... 12 ^ 



Correct'size and weight ......... lO 



Good condition — appearance, 10, and hamllin;^, 8 .... 18 



Good fine head 10 



Good-coloured eyes ......... 4 



Good hard feather, divided as follows : — Hackle, short and close, 4 ; 



tail, narrow and well-carried, 8 ; wings, short and well up, 8 . 20 



Long .and slender legs and feet or toes .... 1 . 6 



ICO 



Mr. Entwistle, it will be seen, prefers the even scale of 100 points; and we may, perhaps, here 

 reply to several of our readers who have seemed at a loss to understand why in our scales the 

 defects, if all added tip, do not even profess to balance the value of a perfect bird. We can only 

 refer to our arguments on this head at page 235, with the added remark that even the list of 

 "disqualifications" in any scale is a list of faults extra to the 100 points; and that if it be 

 necessary, the added points should sum up exactly lOO, and — as often happens — what has hitherto 

 been only considered a fault is advanced to the rank of disqiialifieatioii (as, for instance, crest in 

 La Fleche) ; the scale must in that case be altered, in order that the remaining points may still add 

 up 100. This, if accuracy be the end of a scale, is absurd. Again, in the case of some breeds 

 which have fewer characteristics, greater values must in the case of 100 points be given to those 

 few characteristics in proportion to other breeds, in order that the total may "fill" the scale ; for 

 instance, any black variety, having less points for plumage than a coloured or marked one, the 

 comb or similar points must have more value given them in order to balance. This too is absurd, 

 and contrary to fact. To facts, indeed, we appeal. We began with attempts to keep to 100 

 points, but all our analyses pointed to the conclusion that the principle was wrong ; and though 

 we could with no difficulty reduce all our scales to exactly 100, it would be to ensure an altogether 

 artificial " symmetry," at the expense of accuracy. 



