There is general agreement as to the wisdom and justice of disqualifying for deformities or for mutilations of the feathers to conceal a fault. In regard to disqualifying for trivial faults, fanciers differ in opinion. Many hold that this has been carried to a ridiculous extreme in some cases. Thus, in all clean-legged fowls it is required that the shanks and toes shall be free from small feathers, stubs, or down. Most fanciers agree that conspicuous feathers and stubs should disqualify, but many consider that to disqualify for a minute bit of down, which can hardly be seen without the aid of a magnifying glass, is going too far. Unless the judge has overlooked a disqualification (and this rarely happens), none will be found on a bird that has been awarded a prize. If in any class there is a bird which is not given a place, though apparently superior to any of the prize winners in the characters most distinctive of its variety, that bird usually has some disqualification. The list of disqualifications is too long to be given here. It is not the same throughout for all varieties. Exhibitors and breeders do not attempt to keep track of the disqualifications (which are changed occasionally) for any but the varieties in which they are especially interested. =Methods of judging.= When exhibitions of domestic birds were first held, the awards were usually made by committees of two or three judges. The object in doing this was to insure impartiality and to make connivance between a judge and an exhibitor more difficult. It was found that this plan did not work well. Often the opinions of one man dominated, or, if the man could not have his way, the committee wrangled and took too long to make its decisions. So by degrees the committee plan was abandoned and a single judge made the awards in accordance with standards and rules agreed upon by associations of exhibitors and judges.