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to travel long- distances in winter (the season for such exhibitions) 

 are all useful concomitants of a judge's fitness for his position. 

 There are, naturally, but few in whom all these elements combine,, 

 but it is only in rare instances that committees have to fall back 

 upon actual breeders in selecting judges for their shows. 



During a prolonged stay in Germany I became intimately 

 acquainted with a gentleman who had retired from his profession of 

 operatic singer, and who filled up some of his time by judging Song* 

 Canaries. His engagements as judge were numerous during the 

 season, and often called him to distant parts of the country. At 

 that time his own particular hobby was the keeping of toy dogs, 

 but for years he had been a breeder and successful exhibitor of the 

 smaller and more musical pets now under consideration. Besides 

 the numerous qualifications aforesaid, he possessed that of a quick, 

 correct ear for music, which was scarcely surprising in a professional 

 vocalist of no mean order, such as he had been. 



While on our rambles together through the bird-rooms of the 

 local and neighbouring breeders he seemed to have come to the 

 conclusion that I might lighten his judicial work " just a little," and 

 I readily accepted his invitation to be present at some of the larger 

 meetings where he had shortly to officiate. This is how I came to be 

 admitted to some of the judging rooms, a privilege rarely accorded to 

 a stranger, and never to an exhibitor. 



The largest show we went to was in a Cathedral town in Central 

 Germany. The building selected for the show was like a miniature 

 Crystal Palace ; all glass, palms, and flowers, light and warmth ; a 

 portion of this was arranged in floral arches under which the exhibits 

 were spread, and articles appertaining to the fancy were displayed for 

 the purpose of sale. 



As usual, the judging took place in a spare room, containing little 

 besides two chairs backed into the window recess, and a stage in the 

 centre which enabled the birds to be placed in complete daylight, 

 such as they would enjoy in after life. 



Team number one, consisting of ten competitors, was promptly 

 placed before us, each cage under a cardboard cover, one end of 

 which was furnished with a movable flap of green cotton stuff, the 



