86 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
washy in hackle, and ruddy or rusty winged, and for Show purposes in their class would be useless ; whereas, 
another Cockerel having brown feathers in the breast, dark in top colour, and heavily streaked in hackle, 
would breed pullets that fill all the requirements of the Show pen, though this same Cockerel would not have 
the remotest chance of scoring in the Show pen. Under the existing circumstances, it is necessary to have 
distinct breeding ])ens for each sex, proving that the standard of excellence must be more or less erroneous, 
and productive of evil results, by producing each year a vast number of birds that have nothing in common, 
though falsely recognised as being of one breed. How much better it would be to breed both sexes from 
the same parents, and what an amount of benefit it would confer on the breeder, by being able to adopt 
this method. It would increase the intrinsic worth of the birds to an enormous extent, and would preserve 
the important advantage of uniformity of type, and tend to encourage the ardour of beginners by avoiding 
the extreme disappointment which follows. In order to prevent this unsatisfactory state of affairs, the 
existing Standards for most breeds would require modifying ; but time would prove that the alterations 
made would have a salutary effect in encouraging young Fanciers, and remove many of the existing obstacles 
now in their path. 
How frequently it will be noticed that a breeder of any given variety is always successful in breeding 
winning Cockerels, but rarely wins with Pullets of the same breed ; and again, another breeder is successful 
in breeding Pullets, but cannot produce Cockerels fit to win. Each forms a strain for breeding the sex he is 
successful with, and if the two almost perfect specimens of the so-called one isreed are mated together, the 
progeny will be inferior to either parent, showing clearly that the value of Points of excellence laid down for 
each sex can only be estimated or accepted as a guide from a FaiNXv standpoint, and the good and useful 
qualities, those, that are worth fostering to a great degree, are necessarily sacrificed. 
Again, if " Fancy Points " only are considered to be the main reason why birds are kept for Exhibition, 
why not breed Bantams of each and every variety, which would allow full scope to the seeker after ortiamental 
adornments, to exercise his skill as a breeder in fixing and perfecting any desired Point of excellence, which 
would, in the end, be of some good and lasting benefit, by preventing the deterioration of some of the best 
and most useful Poultry in Utility qualities. Thus the Standards of excellence for Fancy Points could be 
without limit, and be of some value, which at present is very questionable. 
Again, the purchaser of high-priced eggs or breeding stock has a just cause for complaint against the 
breeder of high-class Poultry, who conveniendy, and almost without exception, when advertising, manages to 
make no mention whatever of the birds' practical or Utility qualities. It is, of course, very gratifying to the 
breeder and advertiser to give in cxtoiso the wonderful successes that his birds have gained at the different 
Shows ; but the majority of purchasers would prefer a little information, either as to the egg productive 
capabilities or table qualifications of the birds offered for sale. For instance, the man who works a practical 
Market Poultry Farm would strongly object to purchasing a first prize winning Cockerel, that had been bred 
from a strain in which the practical qualities had been sacrificed for Fancy Points, in all cases preferring to 
purchase a bird from a utility strain that, in all probability, would not have the slightest chance of scoring even 
a commended card in the Show pen. The latter bird, though deficient in Fancy Points, would possess the 
power of transmitting to the offspring increased practical qualities, and, therefore, superior results would be 
obtained from a so-called inferior bird ; and when the breeders of high-class Poultry breed their stock on the 
Utility basis, to foster and encourage the practical qualities, then, and then only will their business become 
profitable. It will be aoticed that numbers of young Fanciers retire within a short while from the ranks of 
Exhibition Poultry Breeders, quickly discovering that Utility Fowls are the only description of Poultry that 
can be made pay. This is caused by the breeders for Show purposes giving no attention whatever to the 
egg-developing and meat-producing qualities of their Fowls, sacrificing all this for abnormal development, 
either of comb, lobe, feather, etc. (which stands to reason cannot be an unmixed good), with the unfortunate 
result that many of the best Utility breeds of Poultry are being gradually destroyed, in order to secure and 
fix exaggerated Fancy Points. 
