481 



F363 



BIRD 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL 



AND 



POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



Vol. I. 



PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 18, 1874. 



No. 25. 



MR. EDWARD HEWITT. 



Wherever prize poultry are bred or valued, the name of 

 Mr. Hewitt is known and honored, since it is well understood 

 how much of the advance in quality that has undoubtedly 

 been made, has been owing to his consistent and judicious 

 awards during many years, which have quietly but effectu- 

 ally directed the 

 efforts of breeders 

 into the proper di- 

 rection. He has 

 had more to do 

 with the settle- 

 ment of what shape 

 various breeds were 

 tt take than prob- 

 ably all others put 

 together; and the 

 curious anomalies 

 in Americanjudg- 

 ing, of which al- 

 most every mail 

 brings us some 

 complaint, and the 

 curious spasmodic 

 efforts our friends 

 make from time 

 to time to "fix 

 a standard " by 

 which their fowls 

 shall bejudccd are 

 perhaps stronger 

 proofs even than 

 the high quality 

 of our best show- 

 birds, of what 

 English breeders 

 owe to him, and 

 of the need our 

 tran s-A tlan tic 

 brethren have of 

 some one whosh all 

 similarly take up 

 the subject for 

 them, and im- 

 part to American 

 breedingand judg- 

 ing somewhat of the same stability and consistence. These 

 and many other reasons are quite sufficient for presenting a 

 portrait of Mr. Hewitt to our readers, with such particulars 

 of his career as his kindness enables us to record without 

 violating the confidence of private intercourse. 



early age of seven years began his career as a poultry fancier, 

 by the acquirement of about a score of the now nearly ex- 

 tinct red-speckled booted bantams ; which breed, by the way, 

 we wish some one would endeavor to recover, as they would 

 be a decided novelty in these days, the leg-feathers in good 

 specimens averaging seven to nine inches long. It was not, 

 however, until leaving school, in 1825, that his marked par- 

 tiality for poultry 

 and other "pet 

 stock" fully de- 

 veloped itself, ow- 

 ing to the presen- 

 tation from a dear 

 friend, who had 

 himself obtained 

 them from the 

 fountain-head, of 

 three or four beau- 

 tiful specimens 

 of the Sebright 

 Bantam, which, 

 down even to the 

 present day, have 

 always remained 

 his especial favor- 

 ites. These birds 

 Mr. Hewitt bred 

 with much care 

 and such success 

 that when he ex- . 

 hibited some of 

 their descendants 

 at the first Bir- 

 mingham poultry 

 show, he won first 

 prize. That "fin- 

 ished him," o( 

 course ; and for 

 many years, with 

 the same stock, the 

 same success at- 

 tended him when 

 exhibiting Se- 

 brights either at 

 Birmingham or 

 elsewhere. 

 At this first Bir. 

 mingham show (held in Worcester Street, on what is now 

 the site of the London and Northwestern Railway station), 

 Mr. Hewitt also exhibited pied and common Pheasants, and 

 the beautiful Chinese Golden and Silver Pheasants, the latter 

 of which were at that time — common as they are now — very 

 little known, and added much to the interest and popularity 



