
240 
POULTRY. 
EXHIBITION FOWLS. 
BY JOHN BAILY. 

BEFORE ENTERING INTO MINUTE PARTI- 
CULARS of the various breeds now competing 
at the different Shows in the United Kingdom, 
it may be well to name a few imperative rules 
applicable to them all. The competition is 
now so great that something more than mere 
merit is required to gain prizes, unless it be 
where they are valueless from the absence of 
those names in the list which are a guarantee 
for the quality of the beaten birds. 
They must be in excellent condition ; not 
merely fat, but in full flesh, health, and spirits. 
It is necessary, in order that they may show 
to the greatest advantage (nothing is more 
important than this in fowls intended for exhi- 
bition), that they should take the eye at first 
sight; and to do this, they must be in first-rate 
condition. ‘This will not be accomplished by 
extra feeding for a fortnight, but by keeping 
them well from the time they are hatched ; 
and this is more economical than the wretched 
and short-sighted practice of alternate starv- 
ing and over-feeding, because in the former 
case, the fowls suffer no check, and grow and 
flourish accordingly. 
Fowls intended for competition in Decem- 
ber, should be selected from March or April 
chickens, and the cocks and pullets kept 
separate till a short time before the show. 
Then they should run together, that they 
may agree in confinement. Inattention to 
this latter particular, is the cause of the 
scalped pullets so common in pens; and these 
not of game fowls, but of all breeds, even 
the least pugnacious. They will not always 
agree unless they are used to be together ; 
and as the unfortunate pullet cannot escape, 
she is often killed, and a pen spoiled. 
Those who know the difficulty of getting 
three good pullets of equal merit to form a 
pen, will readily admit that such a circum- 
stance often spoils a season, and is the cause 
of empty pens. Uniformity comes next in 
importance, and this also is an essential. I 
would advise every exhibitor to pen his fowls 
at home before he sends them away, and to 
judge them many times himself. We are all a 
little disposed to admire our own property— 
but judges (and every exhibitor should be 
one) look first for beauties, and then for 
defects. Many ofthe latter are imperceptible 
while fowls are running at liberty, but they 
are prominent when they are in a small pen. 
They should match in size, color, age, and 
even carriage. 
Competition is often very close; and if 
judges have to give perhaps two prizes to a 
class numbering 150 entries, it will easily be 
understood that any little incongruity, unim- 

KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
portant at another time, is fatal toa pen, so 
far as honors are concerned. There are 
breeds, of which we shall write hereafter, 
where color is not a first point; and yet if 
two competing pens were equal in every other 
respect, if one were more uniform than the 
other, that pen would carry the prize. No 
one who has never judged, can understand 
the importance of these apparent trifles, or 
the relief it affords to judges to discover 
them, when, as is often the case, an hour has 
been spent over five or six pens selected 
from 100. 
They should be in perfect plumage. To 
secure this, they should be properly packed ; 
and my experience is in favor of a round 
basket. It has many advantages. It offers 
no corner where fowls can huddle up and 
trample each other; and as the fowls in 
moving go round, the feathers, especially the 
tails of the cocks, follow, and are not broken. 
The basket should allow the fowls to stand 
upright, and should be covered with canvas. 
Plenty of clean oat or barley straw should 
be put at the bottom; and the birds should 
not be packed till it is absolutely necessary. 
They should not, for economy’s sake, in 
carriage, be packed too close, or too many in 
a basket. The best test of the proper size is 
to choose one which will allow all its occu- 
pants to sit down at the same time. 
Whatever breed is exhibited, the owner 
should always send his best; for it is tiresome 
to hear people say when defeated, they could 
have sent better birds; and itis always a 
sorry sight when fowls of undoubted merit 
lose even a commendatory notice for want 
of condition, or from ragged plumage caused 
by bad packing. 
As arule, a person unaccustomed to handle 
fowls should take them by the legs; raising 
the bird from the ground the moment they 
hold it. Otherwise, injury is done in 
struggling; and by beating the wings and 
breast against the ground. 
LINES 
ON SEEING HIS WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN 
SLEEPING IN THE SAME CHAMBER. 

And has the earth lost its so spacious round, 
The sky its blue circumference aboye,— 
That in this little chamber there are found 
Both earth and Heaven—my universe of love! 
All that my God can give me or remove, 
Here sleeping save myself in mimic death. 
Sweet that in this small compass I behove 
To live their living and to breathe their breath! 
Almost I wish that, with one common sigh, 
We might resign all mundane care and strife ; 
And seek together that transcendent sky, 
Where father, mother, children, husband, wife, 
Together pant in everlasting life! 
Tom Hoop. 

