492 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
Many good birds will not show to advantage through being wild and frightened. I therefore usually 
put up the cockerels I intend for exhibition about a week before the show, keeping them in a wire 
pen or cage, four feet long, two and a half wide, and two high. Feed them as usual, and now and 
then add a lew hemp-seeds and a few white peas, which will brighten the feathers. The hens, on 
the contrary, should not be caged up, but have their usual grass-run up to the time of exhibiting 
them ; for, as a rule, hens lose condition rapidly when penned up. 
“ The ‘ trimming ’ required before sending the birds to show is simply to wash tneir heads, 
legs, and feet clean, and to cut off close to the skin the stiff bristly feathers that stand up over the 
eye of the cock, not touching the feathers that lie flat and in proper order. It is absolutely 
necessary that all birds shown in one pen should match exactly in colour of eyes and legs ; and 
when a pair of hens or pullets are shown, they should match in every point — head, eye, comb, 
colour and marking, style, size, &c. 
“The best time to show pullets is as soon as they have acquired full feather, and before they 
commence laying, say from four to seven months old. Cocks show best between six and fourteen 
months of age, and are generally better the first year than ever afterwards.” 
It was stated in the former edition of this work, that a perceptible improvement was even then 
going on in these beautiful little birds, so that even some old cocks were beginning to be success- 
fully shown. Mr. Entwisle supplies the following remarks on the progress since made : — 
“ Since my article on Game Bantams was first written there has been a steady improvement 
in them, especially in the Black-reds, many of which have of late been shown as near to perfection as 
possible, so that we have more than once seen Black-red Bantams claimed at the large sum of £ 50 
each. Size and weight have materially decreased in the best birds, so that many of the best winners 
at the Crystal Palace Shows have not exceeded eighteen ounces for cockerels and fifteen ounces for 
pullets. The standard colours remain much as they were, except that the Brown-reds are now 
expected to be shown of the pure lemon shade, with perfectly laced breasts, exactly as described 
for the large Game. We now find the majority of birds in a class of Brown-reds closely approach- 
ing this standard in colour, but they are yet too large in size, and too heavy in feather. Duck- 
wings have improved considerably in the pullets, and now are to be seen quite as good as the large 
Game, but there is still the difficulty with the Cocks, and very few are yet seen which come near 
perfection. There is a slight modification in the colour of the Pile cocks ; that is to say, a lighter 
and brighter orange is more admired and sought after in the cock’s hackle and saddle ; in other 
points, the descriptions formerly given still hold good.” 
MR. ENTWISLE’S SCALE OF POINTS FOR GAME BANTAMS. 
Good colour ........... 20 
Good symmetry .......... 12 
Correct size and weight ......... 10 
Good condition — appearance, 10, and handling, 8 . . . 18 
Good fine head .......... 10 
Good-coloured eyes ......... 4 
Good hard feather, divided as follows : — Hackle, short and close, 4 ; 
tail, narrow and well-carried, 8 ; wings, short and well up, 8 . 20 
Long and slender legs and feet or toes ...... 6 
100 
