84 



Cuckoo or Scotch Grey Bantams. 



Never in the history of poultry shows has the displayj of 

 bantams been so large and interesting as at the fall fairs. One 

 is inclined, at first thought, to declare : how could that be pos- 

 sible? why the fall shows are made up of the riffraff of poultry- 

 men and how could the show of bantams be at all interesting? 

 There was a time when one could say that, but I am glad to 

 say that it was in the long-distant past. One finds now at the 

 larger agricultural fairs as fine and large displays of all varieties 

 of pure bred fowls as is seen at the crack winter shows. Especi- 

 ally is this true of bantams. There was a time when exhibitors 

 kept their bang-up good ones for the winter show and sent only 

 their culls to the agricultural fairs, but that has changed. One 

 now sees the noted winners of the winter before at the largest 

 shows and the chicks that bring in the money at the same shows 

 the coming winter. It now takes a good bird to win the blue at 

 the fall shows, as it does at the winter ones, and in most cases 

 a win means fully as much honor and more of the necessary to 

 fill the feed bins in these times of high grain pricfes. I have been 

 impressed for some time past, and have written' several articles 

 along the same lines, by the scarcity of the rarer varieties of ban- 

 tams. When I was in the fancy it was my greatest pleasure to have 

 the rarer varieties and the newest ones and work with the view 

 of improvement. It seems at the present time that the great 

 majority of bantam breeders have no thought above the standard 

 varieties. Sure there is much more pleasure to enter heartily 

 into the spirit of improvement and take hold of a new variety 

 and by hard and persistent work see it mount higher and higher 

 until it stands way up near the top and hear the well-earned 

 plaudits of the fanciers who can appreciate in its fullest sense 

 what it means to climb to such a vantage point. How many 

 years have passed since you have seen a first-class Cuckoo or 

 Scotch Grey bantam? I have not seen a single specimen for five 

 years and in that time I have handled many thousand of the little 

 beauties. The first specimens were found in Scotland some fifty 

 years ago and were evidently produced by a fusion of pure black 

 with pure white and it is a well-known fact amongst breeders 

 that this fusion will produce cuckoo markings, so you can readily 

 see that every breeder of bantams has on hand at all times the 

 desired material to produce cuckoos. I have known instances 



