It would rather put the subject out of perspective it comments were not made regarding judging in general because the major number of points in the B.S. scale of points are allocated in the same way for Clearwings as for most other varieties.
The subject of judging, is regularly raised and commented upon in most journals published, inside and outside the fancy. When articles written on the subject of judging are condensed to basic facts, by and large the anomalies about which fanciers complain, arise because "Judges interpret the written and pictorial standard in different ways". This fact is generally accepted by fanciers and in addition it is quite often stated that this different interpretation is to the advantage of the fancy. If all judges saw the pictorial ideal, and interpreted the written standard in the same way the same birds or the same type of birds would take the honours at show after show.
What always seems to be absent from articles regarding judging, is the fact that if it is accepted that judges interpret the standard in different ways, surely it must also be accepted that fanciers/exhibitors do the same! Therefore we have two categories of fanciers who individually interpret the standard in different ways and of course it must be borne in mind that some fanciers are at different times in both categories (i.e. sometimes they are judging and sometimes exhibiting).
We must therefore consider the problem from two angles. One is from the point of view of the judges and one from the point of view of the exhibitors. Firstly from the judges point of view, if judges were paid on the same sort of scale as footballers this would be very difficult. However, considering the comparatively small return (often only the re-coupling of their expenses and sometimes less than that) it must surely be accepted that fanciers become judges because they enjoy judging. This being so they must attempt to satisfy the majority of exhibitors in order to continue getting engagements.
Secondly the exhibitors. The majority of fanciers represent a large number of people many times more than the number of judges. It therefore follows that the variation in interpretation of the standard by exhibitors must be very much wider than the variation in interpretation by the judges. The fancier attempts to breed birds which match HIS interpretation of the standard and of course exhibits those birds which he considers to be nearest to his own interpretation.
When a judge has in front of him a class of say seven birds, each one exhibited by a different fancier, he really is looking at seven birds, each of which represents the individual exhibitors interpretation of the standard. However, he is judging them by his own interpretation of the standard. Naturally the bird, and this implies the exhibitor, which is nearest to his own interpretation of the standard gets the red card.
This variation in interpretation of standards by both judges and exhibitors is natural. After all, in so many other fields, individual ideas of perfection vary, whether the subject is animate or inanimate. A budgerigar fancy where all judges and exhibitors had the same interpretation would not only be impossible, but it would be self defeating.
All this sounds very idealistic and to give the impression that "All is well" with judging. However, unfortunately as with all the best rules there are exceptions.
It is difficult for one individual to say what percentage of judging comes under the conditions described above because it obviously will vary in different areas of the world. From a cross section of Open Shows it is considered that the above criteria covers 90% of judging, whereas in members shows where it is only from the local society's own shows that an assessment can be made, it is only considered to apply to 80%.
Now we start talking about the judging of Clearwings, the percentages given above being based on the judging of the Clearwing variety. So what causes a small percentage of the judges of Clearwings to vary from the rest?
This can be split into two basic causes:
To elaborate on the extremist judges. They have fixed ideas on certain aspects of a Clearwing. These fixed ideas dominate their judging, to such an extent, that the results bear no resemblance whatsoever to the points given to the various aspects of a Clearwing in the B.S. standard. To quote one or two examples of extremism when judging, it is only necessary to repeat some remarks which judges have been heard to make from time to time. I quote, "They call them Clearwings so they should have white or yellow wings." Resulting winners under this type of judge are usually heavily suffused white blues or yellows with green suffusion.
"The quality of the budgerigar comes first." Usually the Clearwing winners, under such a judge who has this attitude, have only been considered from the point of view of size and shape, the body colour and the wings have been ignored. There are more forms of extremism in the judging of Clearwings, and surely equally as many in other varieties , where the points given for colour in the standard are higher than the normal i.e. Yellows, Lutinos and Opalines.
In all varieties there is a minimum of 10 points for colour rising to a maximum of 35 points in some cases. The colour factor appears to be increasingly ignored in favour of size, to the detriment of the overall appearance of the birds, as envisaged by the standards.
How does the fancy avoid these extremes in judging? At the moment it appears that the exhibitors immediate approach is "Horses for courses", i.e. choose your shows/judge. This however is not really a solution. A solution to such extremist views, when judging Clearwings, can only be arrived at when the number of Clearwings being exhibited is much higher and thus many more exhibitors are noticing these extreme judges.
Fortunately the problems in judging Clearwings under heading (b) are much easier to overcome when one or two aspects of the B.S. standards are looked at and remembered. When judging there should be no difficulty in either recognising a Clearwing or judging them with the same degree of variance of interpretation of standard, as applies to other varieties. The main points to bear in mind from the standard appear to be:
1. The total points in the B.S. scale of points for size, shape, balance and deportment for Clearwings, is the same as for most other varieties, (i.e. 35). The same applies to size and shape of head (i.e. 25 points). So 60 points out of 100 should be no problem when judging Clearwings.
2. With the exception of Clearwing Grey Green, where the cheek patches should be Grey to Slate and the Clearwing Grey, where the cheek patches should be Grey Blue, Clearwing cheek patches should always be Violet, Clearwing Grey Green and Clearwing Grey are not often seen on the show bench.
3. The remaining points (i.e. 40) when judging Clearwings, are for depth of colour and clearness of wings. Judging comparative clearness of wings between exhibits should cause no difficulty. However, "Depth of Colour" causes many problems.
It is generally accepted that the body colour of a Clearwing should be approximately the same depth as the same colour in a Normal.
SUMMARY OF MAIN ANOMALIES
To summarise, the main anomalies in the judging of Clearwings narrows down to two main points:
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