140 POULTRY BREEDING 
correct term used to designate pure-bred fowls of any 
kind. The term “fancy” no doubt comes from the cus- 
tom of calling a breeder of pure-bred fowls a “fancier.” 
FANCIER.—A breeder of pure-bred fowls of any kind. 
A breeder of pure-bred dogs is called a “dog fancier” and 
a breeder of pure-bred pigeons a “pigeon fancier.” 
FAKING.—Faking the standard defines as any “self- 
evident attempt to improve a fowl” by clipping its comb, 
changing the color of the earlobes, staining or splicing. 
feathers, filling up holes from which feathers have been 
plucked in clean-legged breeds or using any device to 
deceive the judge in such a way that he will have a more 
favorable opinion of it than he would have had if it had 
not been manipulated. This is not held to include wash- 
ing, oiling the plumage or any legitimate grooming cal- 
culated to give the fowl a more cleanly and attractive 
appearance. 
FEATHER-PLUCKING.—No one has ever found out 
just why hens begin to pluck and eat the feathers from 
one another. <A flock of hens which has animal feed in 
plenty, green stuff and a variety of grains, rarely acquires 
the vice, but sometimes it is taken up when every condi- 
tion for perfect nutrition is correct. Usually the feath- 
ers from the neck of the cock begin to disappear, then the 
hens begin to look ragged from lost and broken feathers 
and the whole flock begins to look disreputable. Hens 
rarely pluck one another's feathers in human presence, 
not because they are smart enough to conceal their wick- 
edness, but because their attention is on the onlooker. If 
the guilty ones can be discovered by hiding and watching 
for them it will not be necessary to treat the whole flock. 
If not, and the flock is a valuable one, every bird in the 
pen must be treated. The treatment consists in trim- 
