FITTING AND EXHIBITING POULTRY 559 



compels close scrutiny of the birds. These debatable practices are 

 commonly used by fanciers who will not use any of the " rank " 

 forms of faking. They are justified by them on these grounds : 

 (i) that the rule as it applies to things not detectable is, and always 

 must be, a dead letter ; ^ (2) that the rule is too strict, — does 

 not give due consideration to the difificulties of securing absolute 

 conformity to type and would too severely punish trivial faults ; 

 (3) that the practices do not in any way mar the appearance of 

 the specimen, but distinctly improve it ; (4) that they consist (ex- 

 cept as to washing white birds) in removing defects individually 

 so insignificant that their removal leaves no trace, and that there 

 is no difference in effect between washing white birds with mild 

 chemical solutions and washing them several times with a solution 

 of soap and water. 



Exhibitors' practice in conditioning. The commonly approved 

 rule of practice in artificial fitting of exhibition birds is to draw the 

 line on things that may be easily detected, or on compound proc- 

 esses. The basis of this rule is not the desire to escape detection, 

 for every experienced exhibitor assumes that every other experi- 

 enced exhibitor follows the rule. The rule simply establishes the 

 most convenient line of division between what is and what is not 

 permissible in practice in regard to the removal of defects which 

 are in themselves alike. The rule is based not on the similarity of 

 the defects but on the differences in the effects of removing them, 

 or in methods of dealing with them if allowed to remain. 



Note. The removal, from the body of a white fowl, of forty or fifty 

 feathers slightly ticked or splashed v/ith black would not perceptibly affect 

 the outline of the bird, would improve its appearance, and (unless a great 

 many of them happened to be close together) could not be detected ; the re- 

 moval of one such feather from the wing would at once be apparent. So in a 

 black fowl, many feathers showing some white may be removed from the body 

 without the fact being discovered ; a gray tip on a wing feather cannot be 

 removed without showing the loss or mutilation of the feather. It is an im- 

 portant feather. The defect might be remedied by dyeing, — by adding some- 

 thing. This, by common consent, the massof exhibitors refrain from doing, not 

 merely because the feather is important, but because the treatment adds some- 

 thing. The removal of a few very small stubs and bits of down is considered 



1 It is natural to ask, Why, then, is it not changed ? The best answer is found in 

 the great number of provisions of municipal state and national laws that are neither 

 enforced nor repealed. 



