The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-01-13

| "By all things old and all things new,
| Great or little, many or few,
| Each ROSTERS Cock -a-doo-dle-doo!
| Will justify the blowing
The second annual exhibition of the Maine
State Poultry Association opened at City Hall
| yesterday That building makes about as hand
| some heu-house as can easily be found. The
| show last year was considered good one, but
this surpasses it. The number of entries IS
already more than twice as large, and reaches
about eight hundred. The three large halls on
| the second floor are devoted to the exhibition,
and are filed with cages and coops. On enter
| ing the main hall the VISITORS almost deafened
with theInoise. Hens to the right of him, hens
| to the left of him, hens in front Of him cackle
| and crow. There is every variety of the feath-
| cred biped from the majestic brahma or cochin
| to the cunningist little sea-bright or bantam
There is as great variety in the disposition OF
| the fowls as there is in the kind Some appear
to be very proud of their position in the eye of
the public AMI strut round and ruf1e their
feathers to an alarming extent. Others ap-
pear to be ashamed of being in durance vile,
and walk about with a disconsolate air, trying
to look as if it wasn't their fault Still others,
| industrious birds, have settled right down to
business, and have already begun to lay eggs.
These, it may be superfiuous to remark. are
| mostly of the female persuasion. All make
noise and confusion enough for Louisiana
| Legislature. At the very front of the stage,
the only silent bird in the hail. stands the great
Brahma cock of glorious memory, looking Sc
verely down upon the babbling crowd-a fitting
type of the ROSTERS of the earlier and purer
\ of al, IIa noo q
famous as the Courtenays or the De Veres, and
descendants as noted as those Of John Adams.
1t may be remarked that he is dead, and that is
the reason why he is so silent and dignfied
amid the meaningless babble around him. Very
likely if he was alive he would be as noisy
babbler as any of them. These remarks may,
with all due respect, be applied to the states
men of our earlier days. In front of this mon
umental bird twelve long tables stretch the
length of the hall, and upon them are 24O coops
containing brahmas, coehins, polish, leghorns,
dominiques, plymouth rocks, black spanish,
rumplers, creveceurs and natives. In the rear
are % coops of game birds Back of these are
SO coops of ducks, 16 coops of turkeys and
coops Of geese. On the stage are q coops OF
game birds and 40 coops of bantams.
4, Reception Hall is devoted to pigeons and 9TH
er birds OF these there are 200 coops. There
are also birds of plumage and song, in great
variety Six great swans lazly swim in tank
in the centre of the hall, while Mr.. LObenstein's
large green parrot keeps up his querrelous COM
plant from his handsome prison-house in the
corner in the corridor is a lively and playful
bear cub, two bright-eyed racoons, some cum
ming little guinea pigs and many rabbits, lop-
cared and bob-tailed, after the manner of their
kind-all "birds of quite different feather"
from the pigeons and the hens.
The attendance yesterday was very large for
first day. There was quite an attendance
from out of town, and many ladies and chill
dren were present. The children in the hall
went in to raptures when the gas was lighted at
five o'clock, and the hundred cocks set up a
simultaneous crow. The mistaken ROSTERS
were much in the condition of Democratic pol
iticians, and thought they saw daylight
.'s' f"'"" THE MAIN HALL.
On the font of the stage, perched up as big
as life, is the dark Brahma cock, which de-
parted this life Just at the close of the last
exhibition. He was imported by Fred f.
Harris His pedigree has been published time
and again. He appears to be looking over the
whole show. The tables on which the coops
are placed in the main hall run the same as
they did last year, but are set nearer together.
The most of the coops are manufactured for
the Society by N. Whitney, and are let to the
Society for dollar. Each coop has the So
ciety's name upon it and is provided with two
mugs, one for corn and the other for water
The water is kept fresh, and the hens have the
best of care The main hall is mostly taken
up with hens and chickens of different kinds.
r 1t is amusing for the uninitiated to listen to
the professional poultry fanciers talk OF hen
as horse Jockey would of horse; also to hear
them reckon up the points, and see how near a
certain hen will come to perfection, or in other
words, how near to 100 ''points."
p 1t may be of interest to some to know the
number of coops of the different breeds of
, fowls sthat have been entered. We are not
allowed to give the names of those who enter
the several coops, as the directors do not wish
the committee to know. As general thing
there is a trio in each coop. .
The Brahmas stand first, there being Is coops
of dark and so coops. of light Brahmas. The
different breeds of Cochins will come next. Of
the bluffs we find 30 coops, partridge 3, white
Is, black 5. In point of numbers the Polish
come next in order. OF this variety we find
white crested 10, silver spanged IL, white
crested black 2, golden spangled 4. Leghorns
come next: white 16, Dominique II. There
are also q coops of Plymouth Rock breed, IL
of silver spangled Hamburgs, of the Houdans,
8 of the white face black Spanish, of the
crevecews, / of the rumplers, and several
coops of native hens.
Along the further side of the hall there are
% coops of the different kinds of game birds.
In the back part of the hall, under the
gallery, the ducks, geese and turkeys are found
We find IA coops of Rouen ducks, II of Ayles-
bury ducks, Is of Muscovy ducks, colored and
white, 6 of Cayuga, 2 of white crested ducks,
coops brown turkeys, coops white, and 1
COOP of a cross of brown and white, Holland
and black, and natives. For geese we find
fine pair of Emblem geese from the City
Farm, 2 eoops of gray China, and l coop OF
wild, 1 of Hong Kong, and of double winged.
On the stage there are to be found large
variety of game birds. The black and red
game bantams take the lead, there being IS
GOODS of this breed There are IA coops of sill
yer SeaDrlSnlS, anu y SolueH SeauIiSulS, WHO
bantams, African bantams, 3 Irish grays,
silver duck winged, 2 red pile bantams, and
each of Madeira game bantam, Earl of Derby
game, spaDgled game bantams, and also OF
Dutch rabbits.
Among the distinguished visitors to the show
this morning were Ex-Governor Morrill, OF
Maine; Mayor Wescott; President Noyes, OF
Bangor; A. d. Warren, Worcester, President
of the New England Poultry Association; G.
W.Chamberlain, Arlington; Mr. Deane, of Taun-
ton; Mr.. Atwood, Director of the Maine
Association; G. V. Fletcher of Boston; M
Ellis Norwood; Mark Pitman of Beverly
f. O. Henley of Cambridgeport; II. K. Osborn
Cambridgeport W. f. Bacon, Cambridge;
s. H. Warren of Weston, and G. f. Seavey of
Cambridgeport, these latter all prominent
breeders.
In the evening there was an immense atten-
Dance Upwards of 1000 tickets were sold at
the door. Chandlers Band furnished the mu-
sic, the hens, ducks, turkeys and geese Joined
in the chorus, and an Argus reporter paced the
hail. cudgelling his brains for puns. The bril-