84 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
Show specimens at a long figure, discovers that they are in no way suitable for his requirements, being 
deficient in those qualities for which they were purchased. Many more persons would keep Pure-bred 
Poultry, and the whole business would receive a fillip. The production of high-class Show specimens would 
in no way be checked. The competition between one Fancier and another would obviate this, and the 
whole Poultry world would be placed on a sounder basis than it now occupies. 
As an example of the effects of a ".standard of excellence" -for the encouragement of purely "Fancy 
Points," we have before our eyes the transmogrification the British Game Fowl has undergone, and is still 
being carried further, and we regret to see the Australian Game Fowl following closely in the wake. None 
but an enthusiastic admirer of the breed— that is, one who looks to obtain " Fancy Points "—would attempt 
to state that the modern production is a hettkr bird than his predecessor. One can admire the modern Fowl 
from a purely Fancy standpoint, but not from a Utility one. This will illustrate how the difference in all 
varieties of Poultry should be defined, and it will be found that any Poultry Society having the courage to 
tackle the matter as it should be done, would confer a lasting benefit on thousands who would take up 
Pure-bred Utility Foivls, but are deterred by the circumstances and surroundings from investing in Show 
Poultry, as they are generally totally unsuited to their requirements. A better class of Poultry would then 
take the place of many of the nondescripts now seen, and in a short time those who devoted their time to 
improving the Utility Points, instead of, in many instances, usele.ss Fancy Points- except from a Fancier's 
standpoint — would reap a rich harvest. 
Our suggestions will probably be ridiculed by many who breed Show Poultry. They will state : " Oh ! 
we can produce any amount of inferior birds from our very best Show stock." Yes, we admit that this is 
frequently the case in breeding Fancy birds — that a majority will be found useless for the Show-pen by being 
faulty in plumage, bad combs, ear-lobes, eyes, legs, etc., but as the two breeds (for such they would be) are 
distinctly apart, the standards of form, etc., differing so widely, their weeds, to use the parlance to express 
birds deficient in Show Points, would not be built on the same lines as birds bred for Utility Points, 
therefore are of no value for the Show-pen on Fancy Points, and would be useless for the Show-pen as 
Utility specimens. 
To still further demonstrate our argument, there are some breeds, taking, for instance, the Orpington, a 
breed originally produced for a specific object, that of fair laying powers (more especially in winter), and fair 
table qualifications. In their original form they embodied these qualities ; but, with the eternal craze for 
improvement and working to an imaginary standard, now appear frequently as long-legged birds approaching 
the modern Langshan type, and win in the Show-pen. We are aware that the Langshan was used in their 
composition, but why breed to that type, as in the Orpington the best qualities of the Langshan were 
embodied ? But the eternal craze for alteration and improvement (save the mark !) is already beginning to 
change the bird for the worse, the fancy points now being given more consideration than its useful qualities. 
Again, the Langshan Fowl takes various forms, its supporters holding widely different views. This tends to 
sacrifice some of the breed's good qualities. In some instances length of limb and closeness of feather are 
the points aimed at, and it is difficult to see where this will end unless some encouragement is offered to the 
cultivation of the most useful qualities of the breed, which none but a breeder for " Fancy Points " would 
dispute, would be a step in the right direction. By all means let those who value a bird for possessing 
exaggerated points difficult to obtain prosecute their object with all ardour, but at the same time let others 
have the same amount of encouragement who prefer to breed a Fowl for its useful qualifications. 
Taking another example, that of the Cornish-Indian Game Fowl, we find this breed was perfected to an 
ideal standard of table qualifications. What do we now see in the Show-pen ? Birds small and weedy, 
everything being sacrificed to colour, comb, and markings. Many of the birds exhibited would require a 
stretch of imagination to be considered Table Fowls, but would pass for rather large and prettily-marked 
Bantams. 
The Show pen has this serious charge to answer for, and no likelihood of improvement in their main 
quality, that of Table Fowls, pure and simple, will be noticeable, until there is a limit fixed to the 
