68 THE HISTORY OF 



one cage appeared a card vouching for the fact that a cer- 

 tain original Shanghae crower within it, all the way from 

 the land of the Celestials, weighed fourteen pounds and three 

 ounces, and that a hen, with him, drew nine pounds six 

 ounces (almost twenty-four pounds). When the birds were 

 weighed, the first drew ten and a half pounds, and the 

 other eight and a quarter only. This memorandum ap- 

 peared upon the box of a clergyman contributor, who had 

 understood that size and great weight only were to be the 

 criterion of merit and value thenceforward. Another con- 

 tributor boldly declared himself to be the original holder of 

 the only good stock in America. A third claimed to be the 

 father of the current movement, and had a gilded vane upon 

 his boxes which he asserted he had had upon his poultry- 

 house for five years previously. Another stated that all 

 my fowls (there shown) were bred from his stock. And 

 still another proclaimed that the identical birds which I con- 

 tributed were purchased directly of him ; he knew every 

 one of them. Finally, one competitor impudently hinted 

 that my birds actually then belonged to him, and had only 

 been loaned to me (for a consideration) for exhibition on 

 this occasion ! 



When the fair closed, however, the matter was all set 

 right, as may be gathered from the following extract from 

 the official Report of the third show, of the Committee of 

 Judges of which I was not a member : 



