CHAPTER VI. 
EXHIBITING. 
Provided a duck or goose be in perfect condition and 
full plumage, there is little or nothing that can be done in the 
way of preparation for the show-pen. Waterfowl should be 
exhibited in “hard” condition, grain fed, not fat, the feathers 
should lie tightly like a satin coat, firm and glossy to the touch. 
Carolina, Mandarin, Wild-Duck, and such birds as undergo 
the summer change should only be exhibited when in perfect 
feather. In the case of those birds which do not attain full 
plumage until the second or third year, it is useless sending 
them out in an immature condition to compete against birds 
older, and consequently better furnished. Ducks should never 
be exhibited during their laying, and it is not prudent at any 
time to subject to much journeying the pair of birds on 
which you depend for the breed. 
Care should be taken to accustom both geese and 
ducks to the show-pen before sending them out. On their 
first introduction to the wire cage, the birds will thrust their 
heads through the bars, flutter wildly round, attempt to rise, 
and dash their crowns against the roof of the pen, finally 
sinking down exhausted in a corner, bruised and terrified, 
among their own dropped and broken feathers. 
Waterfowl are by nature shy and timorous; it is therefore 
necessary for the fancier, where a regular system of exhibiting 
is intended, to provide himself with goose and duck show-pens 
of the usual pattern, in which the birds intended for exhibition 
should be placed from time to time, and while there be coaxed 
