THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY - GENTLEMAN, February 19, 1881. 
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other hand, the entries are very high, the space is very limited, 
and, therefore, none but the elite enter. Rut there are certain 
classes that belong to this Show, and although now adopted by 
others, yet the initiative belongs to Liverpool. For instance : 
The class for Single Game Cocks, now divided into two for 
adults and chickens. The strength of this Show is more par¬ 
ticularly in Dorkings, Game, Hamburglis, Bantams, and Rouen 
Ducks ; while, like many, it is weak in Polands and some others. 
Feeling that it would be unwise to take from the numerous for 
the help of the smaller classes, these latter are made self-sup¬ 
porting, and all the entry-money is distributed in prizes less 
5 per cent, for expenses. Where more than four pens are 
entered, two prizes are given; where four, or a less number, 
one only is awarded. 
The Show has never changed its locality, and was held as usual 
j in Lucas’ Repository. It was quite full; the entries, with 
Pigeons, amounting to 577 pens. The whole of the end of the 
| building was appropriated to these latter, and the effect was not 
only striking, but they proved an attractive part of the ex- 
i hibition. 
It is fau to mention before we treat of the classes that many 
of the cocks showed plainly the effect of the long and unusually 
I severe winter. The combs in some were still frostbitten ; while 
in others there remained the cicatrix to show where the wound 
| had been. 
The Spanish seemed to have suffered more than others. In 
this class, strange to say, the hens were better than the cocks. 
We do not often have to record this. It was the case both in 
Mr, Fowler’s and Mr. Garlick’s pens, which took first and 
second prizes. In this, which, with the exception of Preston, 
i will be the last great Show this season, we have still to note the 
improvement in this breed. 
Tire Coloured Dorkings were very good, and the prize birds 
were highly meritorious specimens ; but exhibitors in this class 
should bear in mind that mere weight and size are not enough 
to insure success. They must not be under-rated—no qualities 
are more essential to success ; but they must be joined to 
symmetry, and moderate good looks. Some of the birds shown 
in this class were painfully ugly; the prize-pens were pleasing 
exceptions, especially Captain Hornby’s. It gave us pleasure 
to see the prize for Silver Greys go to Scotland, being taken by 
Mrs. Fergusson Blair. This lady showed birds perfect in colour. 
Many other excellent pens in this class had defects in colour, and 
would have fared better in general competition. 
Mr. Tomlinson still wins everywhere with Buff Cochins. 
His stock seems inexhaustible; while in Grouse and Partridge 
Cochins Messrs. Stretch, Musgrove, and Cartwright generally 
head the class. They did so here. There appears a tendency 
to get the hens too strongly tinged with buff: in some of them 
the feathers were laced with that colour. Golden-laced Cochins 
will be a novelty, but we doubt whether they will take. 
It is not too much to say that all the Hamburgh classes were 
good, and many excellent—better, we think, than anything we 
have seen of late. We have had to complain of the Silver-pen¬ 
cilled, but they here made amends. The strongest were the 
Golden-pencilled and the Silver-spangled. Mr. W, C. Worrall, 
Mr. Pettat, and Mr. Martin, were those who headed these 
capital classes. We hope the improvement in numbers and 
quality will continue. We are bound to speak more especially 
of the increase in the Silver-spangled, because these beautiful 
and valuable birds had been on the decrease of late. 
Then came the Game. We know no place where this breed 
excites such universal interest as at Liverpool, and no place 
where so many private judges meet to canvas the decisions of 
those who have acted for the public. The quality of these 
birds makes it impossible to select other than admirable types 
of this breed, but it also makes it a work of difficulty to select 
the best. There is little for a man to accomplish in the way 
of exhibiting Game who has won a first prize here, unless, 
like the Boy Jones, he has a disposition to repeat liis exploit 
constantly. Mr. Moss seems to have a penchant this way; 
Mr. Archer will plead guilty to the same soft impeachment; 
Captain Hornby always stands at the head of the Black Reds; 
and this year Mr. Fletcher has caught the infection. Mr. 
Henry Worrall contracts for the chief honours of the Duck- 
wings. These are not all the celebrities, but we cannot name 
all. We can note a great improvement in the handling of the 
Black Reds, which are now becoming as close and hard as 
their Brown brethren. In many instances it was evident the 
result was attained by a cross with them. 
Bantams were very strong in numbers and quality. Miss 
Musgrove’s Game, Mr. Conyers’s Gold-laced, and Mr. Worrall’s 
Blacks deserve especial notice. A cup is given for the best 
pen of Bantams in the Show. It would, we think, be well 
to alter this, and to offer it for fhe best of one paiticular 
breed. 
There was a noble class of Rouen Ducks, the heaviest we 
have seen this year, but the Aylesburys were small in number. 
Mr. Fowler eclipsed himself by exhibiting three that weighed 
between 25 lbs. and 26 lbs. In any ordinary contest Mr. 
Hill must have been successful. This country is again famous 
for its varieties. Every pen in the class was highly com¬ 
mended. The Brown Calls and the Black Ducks were perfeot. 
The only mention necessary in the self-supporting classes 
are the Brahmas and Polands , which were excellent. Mr. 
Craigie, Colonel Clowes, Mr. Dixon, and Mrs. Pettat were the 
distinguished. 
There was again a hard struggle for Cochin Chickens, both 
in Buff and Grouse. Mr. Tomlinson and Miss Musgrove won 
victories of which they may be proud. There was also a 
good class of Whites. 
The Single Cock classes of every breed brought perfect birds. 
Distinguished even among such were Mr. Paton’s Spanish, Mr. 
Copple’s Cochin and Dorking, and Miss Musgrove’s Grouse bird, 
and Mr. Worrall’s Hamburghs. Mr. James Dixon may also 
boast of taking all the Poland Cock prizes. 
The show of Game Bantam Cocks was beautiful, and Mr. 
Martin Turner may be proud of his success. 
At dramatic representations, circus, and such like, there is 
often an interval of ten minutes. It forms the separation or 
division between the first and second parts. It affords time to 
pick up the orange peel, and to rake the sawdust. People 
shift the positions in which they have been fixed for hours. The 
clown who has kept the house in a roar sits, weary and dejected, 
out ot sight. The corners of the pantaloon’s paint point down 
instead of up, and the way in which all the employees avail 
themselves of the rest shows how it is wanted and appreciated, 
l'he little tinkling bell, the first notes of the orchestra, or the 
entrance of that “nuisance of a boy,” puts a stop to it. Seventy- 
six Game Cocks do the same for us. We have never seen these 
birds better, but some of them showed they had not passed 
unscathed through the winter. As in the classes, the improve¬ 
ment in the Black Reds in the point of handling was great. 
Messrs. Moss and Archer, who took first in the two classes for 
adults and chickens, showed perfect birds. We may venture to 
say the same of all the prizetakers. It would be difficult to find 
a fault among them. The Hon. W. Vernon, Mr. Slatter, and 
Messrs. Grimshawe, were the other distinguished. Had the 
rewards been more numerous, eligible recipients might have 
been found among the “ highly commended.” 
The attention, liberality and courtesy of the gentlemen who 
manage this unique Show, are beyond all praise. 
The Judges were G. J. Andrews, Esq., and Mr. Baily. 
Spanish. —First, J. K. Fowler, Prebendal Farm, Aylesbury. Second, 
J. Garlick, Everton, Liverpool. Highly Commended, Capt. Hornby, 
Knowslev, Prescot; T. P. Wood, jun., Boythorpe House, near Chester¬ 
field. Commended, D. Harding, Middlewich, Cheshire. 
Dorking (Coloured).—First, Capt. Hornby, Knowsley, Prescot. Second, 
A Potts, Iloole Hall, « luster. Highly Commended, Miss Bell, Wood- 
houselee, Canonbie; W. Copple, Eccleston, Prescot; Capt. Hornby; 
J D. Hewson, M.D., Colon Hill, Stafford ; Mrs. T. T. C. Lister, Beamsley 
Hall Slcipton ; Hon. W. W. Vernon, Ranton Abbey, Stafford. Commended, 
A. Potts. 
Dorking (Silver Grey) .—First, Mrs. F. Blair. Incbmartin, Inchture, N.B. 
Second, G. Cargev, Stone, Staffordshire. Highly Commended, Mrs. F. 
Blair; Mrs. Lister, Manningham Hall, Bradford. Commended, W. Dolby, 
jun., Syston Old Hall, Grantham, Lincolnshire. 
Cochin-China (Cinnamon and Buff).—First and Second, H. Tomlinson, 
Balsall Heath Road, Birmingham. Highly Commended, J. Cattell, Bir¬ 
mingham ; T. Smith, Coventry Road, Birmingham. Commended, Capt. 
Heaton, Lower Broughton, Manchester ; W. Dawson, Hopton Mirfield. 
Cochin-China (Grouse and Partridge).—First, T. Stretch, Marsh Lane, 
Bootle, Liverpool. Second, P. Cartwright, Oswestry. Highly Com¬ 
mended, Miss V. W. Musgrove, West Towir, Aughton, near Ormskirk; 
T. Stretch. 
HuiBtROH (Golden-pencilled).— First, W. C. Worrall, Knotty Ash, 
Liverpool. Second, J. Martin, Mildenham Mill, Claines, Worcester. Highly 
Commended, J. Munn, Heath Hill, Stacksteads; S. Smith, Northowram, 
near Halifax. Commended, J. Firth, Sily Lane Mills, Halifax ; E. A. Wil¬ 
kinson, Birmingham. 
Hamburgh (Silver-pencilled).—First, J. Martin, Claines, Worcester. 
Second, D. Harding, Middlewich, Cheshire. Highly Commended, G. Grif¬ 
fiths, Worcester; J. Munu, Stacksteads, near Manchester ; S. Shaw, Stain- 
land, Halifax. 
