HISTORY OF THE CANARY 



19 



sports in wild birds are males, for I have 

 at present two Linnets with one or two 

 white spots about the size ol' 4-6 nun., and 

 these are inidoubtedly i'eniales ; and I 

 have seen a piue white female Pheasant 

 (/'. colchicus). Clear (white) and almost 

 clear female hybrids also occur now and 

 tlicn. I believe, however, that the majority 

 in this case is greatly on the male side, just 

 as we have seen the preponderance in the 

 case of cinnamon hybrids to be on that 

 of the female. 



It should be possible to produce cock 

 cinnamon hybrids by mating a self -cinna- 

 mon cock Canary with, e.g.. 

 CocR, a cinnamon Greenfinch. The 



nearest apjiroach I have made 

 to this is a cock Greenhnch 

 mule of a pecidiar greyish colour (neither 

 the ordinary " dark " nude nor cinnamon) 

 which I bred last year from a clear yellow 

 cock Canary and a cinnamon Greenfinch, 

 the Canary being bred from a clear yellow 

 cock and a buff green hen, probably of 

 cinnamon descent. 



Cinnamon 

 Hybrids. 



mon Canary. It would almost apj^ear 



that we must look for and supi)ly another 



sort of complementary 



Origin of the sporting colour (probablv 



Cinnamon x -^i • 



Canary greens) with cinnamon 



blood, before the cinnamon 



mother is capable of producing a son 



with sufhcient cinnamon blood to prop- 



\ 



% 



/ 



THE YORKSHIRE CANARY. 



The question of correlation of sex with 

 cinnamon colour is a most interesting one, 

 and may explain the rarity of cinnamon 

 varieties in wild birds. It also increases 

 our interest in the origin of the cinna- 



THE GERMAN ROLLER CANARY. 



agate the variety. In the case of the 

 Canary it is possible that the cinnamon 

 variety was propagated by the mating of 

 original wild green cocks with the self- 

 cinnamon (or grey) hen sports, the green 

 cocks from this cross being capable, when 

 mated with cinnamon hens, of producing 

 cinnamon cocks for the ]iropagation of 

 the variety. 



It will thus be seen tliat the establish- 

 ment of a wild cinnamon ^•ariety is almost 

 impossible, for even though such a con- 

 sjjicuous mother were allowed to live and 

 breed, it almost means that she must 

 mate with her own son before a male cin- 

 namon bird could be produced. 



The allied grey variation, being less 

 consineuous, and jirobably more vigorous, 

 and with better eyesight, would be more 

 likely to succeed ; and this, as we shall 

 see later, has probably been the initial 

 stage in the Canary of the cinnamon 



