490 EXHIBITING AND JUDGING 
The decimal score card is so designed as to give to each part 
its proportionate rank, the specimen being divided into ten com- 
ponent parts, each of the same value. 
In using the standard score card, parts which fall below the 
requirements are deducted from the perfection value in propor- 
tion to the ratio in which they drop below the standard. When 
the scoring is complete, the cuts are added, and the amount 
subtracted from 100, which gives the total score of the bird. 
The score card, when completely filled out, should be dated, 
signed by the judge and countersigned by the secretary. 
The standard score card sets so much value on color mark- 
ings that its use inclines one, if not careful, to overlook those 
factors of body shape and apparent vitality which make up the 
utility or commercial value of the birds. It is, however, true 
that purity of breeding—hence of color pattern—to a certain 
extent promotes uniformity. It is also true that by studying 
color pattern the breeder of standard poultry is led to a closer 
study of the conformation of the body. 
The tendency is, and has been, to sacrifice shape and sizé for 
fine feathering, which in the end lowers the commercial value of 
the breed or strain. Hence if greater stress were laid, in the stand- 
ard score card, upon conformation of the body, with the view of 
increasing the utilitarian value of the breed, it would increase the 
production of standard-bred birds by the general farmer or small 
poultryman, who must get his living by selling his birds for market 
purposes. 
The perfect bird of any breed is the one which shows perfection 
in feathering. The utility and standard-bred white Leghorns are 
good examples of this divergence of values. The fancy Leghorn 
is a rather small, dainty bird, with small comb and wattles and 
rather short body; while the Leghorn which yields the highest 
profits from the sale of eggs is a larger bird, of heavier and coarser 
development, with long body and larger comb. Such a divergence 
should not exist; standard-bred birds, to rank as such, should have 
the typical shape and size developed to their highest degree. 
Score Card for Egg Type of Live Poultry.—This score card is 
of use to the breeder of poultry who wishes to breed for maximum 
egg yield. It fixes in his mind the external characteristics of 
the bird which are significant of the egg producer. The values 
given the component parts signify the relative importance of each 
part in selecting the layers and nonlayers. 
