BREED TYPE 69 



combine to make a perfect whole. The term "symmetry" has been 

 much abused and the abuse has lead to misunderstanding. Tliis has 

 resulted from symmetry being placed in the scale of points and given 

 a valuation of four points out of the one hundred which is the) 

 numerical valuation given as the sum total of perfection. 



Symmetrj- is the harmonious blending of all the parts. It is the 

 harmony of proportion. Many judges refuse to cut a bird for sym- 

 metry, stating that when they cut a specimen for shape of neck, back, 

 tail, wings, breast, body and legs, they have proceeded on the basis 

 that if the bird in question were corrected in those faulty sections to 

 the extent which the cut represents, the result would be a perfect 

 whole; and that the bird cannot in fairness be cut on symmetry of 

 the whole, for such would be an additional and superfluous cut. 



If a bird should be cut for color in each section in which it is 

 defective, and then cut for harmony of color as a whole, the cut 

 would be as justifiable as a cut for harmony of proportion or sym- 

 metry'. We pointed out this fact to the American Poultry Associa- 

 tion Convention at Atlantic City in 1913, and symmetry was dropped 

 from the scale of points, only to be reinstated to its former position 

 at the next ineeting held in Chicago, when men who had never 

 judged a bird and knew little of applying the scale of points to speci- 

 mens, arose and talked about every animal having a symmetry of 

 form, and so befouling the issue that the popular vote was cast in 

 favor of sj'mmetry as a distinct and separate feature in the shape of 

 specimens. 



I. K. Felch, the father of the score card, was opposed to a section 

 for symmetry. He maintained that it enabled judges to award ijrizes 

 under suspicion, for after cutting for defective shape in the different 

 shape sections, judges were privileged to give a bird an additional 

 cut for symmetry — a cut that was not explained, since it defied ex- 

 planation, and the bird so cut lost in close competition with the one 

 passed as perfect in symmetry. 



Sections considered in judging. The different sections of a bird 

 are given on the score card, page 61, and the different parts of 

 a bird are shown in the diagram of the male, page 70. It is im- 

 portant that the breeder should become thoroughly familiar with the 

 names of the different parts. 



We recall that when the Silver Penciled Wyandotte first came 

 out, and the variety was first illustrated, we, as a beginner, set for 

 ourselves the task of learning the different sections. At that time the 

 nomenclature in the Standard of Perfection was a caricature, and 

 poultry literature as a whole was in a very feeble stage. As we read 

 the sections under the Standard caricature, and applied them to the 

 Silver Penciled Wyandotte male, we wondered if we should ever be 

 able to learn and to know the different sections. 



We remember, too, that the wing was the first section that we 



