481 



F363 



BIRD 



<VNCIERS' JOURNAL 



AND 



POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



Vol. I. 



PHILADELPHIA, MAY 21, 1874. 



No. 21. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE "STANDARD." 



BY GEOKGE P. BTJRNHAM. 



The Secretary of the "American Poultry Association," 

 B. S. Ralph, Esq., of Buffalo, invites suggestions for im- 

 proving or correcting our new "Standard of Excellence." 

 I have always had my opinion upon this rather intricate and 

 complex question, hut I have hitherto said little upon the 

 subject, because the views of fanciers, breeders, and writers, 

 have been so widely at variance among us, and have been 

 found, thus far, so difficult to harmonize. In response to 

 Mr. Balph's public invitation, however, I submit the follow- 

 ing as some of my ideas upon this vexed and vexing subject: 



I think, imprimis, that it is by no means an effective way 

 to finally adjust and establish a practical numerical scale of 

 points in excellence, simply through the expression of the 

 opinions and notions of a feio gentlemen, 'the majority of 

 whom may be novices ; or, at the best, but indifferently 

 experienced breeders, partial students in chickenology, or 

 only casual observers of the finer characteristics in varieties 

 of poultry; and therefore I deem it of the first importance, 

 with a view to readjusting our American standard, that a 

 general meeting should be convened, where all our fanciers 

 can be present who desire to be heard ; for, " among many 

 councilors, there is wisdom " ordinarily, more or less. 



How many times, in the past dozen years or more, both 

 in this country and in England, has the attempt been made 

 by limited gatherings of poultry men to " revise " the stan- 

 dard ? In every case there has resulted naught but failure 

 to give satisfaction. At one time, one coterie ; at another, 

 another set of men ; at a third, a different clique — all well 

 meaning, and desirous to do good to the cause and them- 

 selves ; but, with all their toil and earnestness, none ever 

 afforded us a criterion which would work to the general wel- 

 fare, convenience, and advancement of the object apparently 

 aimed at, and so ardently desired by fanciers in this country. 



To arrive at conclusions, nevertheless, we must have an 

 expression of the opinions of poultry men as a basis to begin 

 upon. We have few experts in America ; very few men 

 who are thoroughly posted as arbiters when you come down 

 to the " fine points " of excellence in our numerous varieties 

 of fowls. But in the aggregate (if we can get all our leading 

 breeders once in council together), we can find one man, or 

 one set of men, who have made themselves conversant, 

 through studious application and practical experiment, with 

 one class of birds; another man or men who know the good 

 points in another class ; and a third, fourth, or fifth who 

 have had experience with other varieties, to the end of the 

 chapter. And from all these heads and minds, in each 

 instance, some share of good sense and sound suggestion may 

 be contributed to the general good; and, after full discus- 

 sion, the results may be incorporated, in part or in whole, 

 in the text that goes to make ur^a cojnpleJg;jy; 

 standard. 



A great many vagaries and useless hints will crop out in 

 such a convention naturally, and the ears of the elders will 

 inevitably be shocked at the ideas advanced by some ambi- 

 tious tyros. Yet all these advisors mean well, and their very 

 inexperience leads to healthy discussion and beneficial con- 

 clusions in the end. Thus, I say, let us hear all sides, and 

 adopt the best advice we can glean from such a general 

 expression of opinion. 



Theoretical rules for judging the merits of fowls are 

 invariably defective. No more theory can be applied, uni- 

 versally, in pronouncing upon the fine points of any breed 

 whatever. "What is much safer, fairer, and more reason- 

 able is good, sound, unbiased, sensible, competent judging. 

 Such judging is not readily attainable, I know, in this country 

 — nor has it yet been reached, save to a limited extent, in 

 England — for the reason I have already given, namely, that 

 we have few qualified experts in America who can or will 

 give their attention to this business professionally, and who 

 are not interested, directly or indirectly, in certain "strains," 

 or importations of poultry stock. 



Now, the most faultless " scales " ever yet devised or pro- 

 mulgated have failed, so far, by themselves, to prove satis- 

 factory or practicable. The " scales " have been continually 

 the object of tinkering, year after year, and have been so 

 changed, from time to time, as to be at last quite unrecog- 

 nizable to most of us. And for this reason (if I had no 

 other) I earnestly advocate the immediate abrogation of the 

 " instructions to judges " that so disfigures our latest attempt 

 to revise the American standard, to which formula no inde- 

 pendent, really qualified judges can ever subscribe. 



To arrive at any conclusive, good form of standard, must 

 be the work of study, time, thought, and long experience. 

 Through such channels only can a reliable, serviceable stan- 

 dard be afforded. No mere voting, speechifying, and acqui- 

 escing in the multifarious, crude views of a dozen or a score 

 of men (led by one or two or half a dozen among them who 

 do know something of poultry points), can ever give us a 

 proper, just, equitable Standard of Excellence. I repeat it, 

 time must be devoted to its construction, correspondence 

 invited, the interchange of practical opinions duly con- 

 sidered ; and all this advice and study must be generally 

 contributed to the main effort by all parties interested, then 

 fairly weighed, and sifted, and examined, pro and con, 

 before the finality shall be tabulated and put forth as our 

 criterion to_breed up to and judge by. 



As to the maximum of the numerical scale, I think 50 

 points quite as good and as serviceable as 100 or 1000 could 

 he. Since the present standard has been fixed at 100 points 

 in perfection, however, it is just as well perhaps to leave it 

 there. 



I would make symmetry first in the list in Games, in 

 Brahmas, in Cochins, in Black Spanish, &c. ; condition 



cond, in all classes, especially the layer varieties; color 

 and markings third; weight and size fourth in the China 



