20 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



variety. Since writing the foregoinji, I liavc I'ound. indicates the presence ot a charac- 

 seen and examined a considerable niunhcr ter essentially sporting, and varying not 



of additional s])orls and hybrids, and have 

 bought a sell'-cinnainon leniale Linnet, a 

 seU'-einnamon leniale C'hallinch, and also 

 a hall-white male (ioldfinch. I have also 

 lately acquired from Mr. T. \V. Ilinson. 

 Cambridge, a most in- 

 teresting and rare bird, 

 viz. a fiilver-greii nude 

 Linnet {L. cannab'nui), 

 with cinnamon shaded 

 l)a(k. reddish breast, 

 and which is also a 

 <ir()iniil tumbler. This 

 l)ii-d. caught near Cam- 

 bridge in Xovember, 

 IKOit. refuses ever to 

 ])crch, and when ex- 

 cited (as when any- 

 one approaches its cage) 

 keeps turning head over 

 tail on the floor. It 

 h;ts also the trenudous 

 motion in its head and 

 neck of the Fan-tail 

 PigcoTi. I regard this 

 bird as corroborative 

 of my theory of the 



albinistic origin of domestic \;irieties : it 

 is also (if a male bird, which I believe 

 it to be) the only partial exception I have 

 seen to the general conclusion that all grey 

 or cinnamon wild birds are females — an 

 exception which, in all ))robability, pro\es 

 the rule. 



I 



THE LANCASHIRE PLAINHEAD CANAKV 



THE GREY OR CINNAMON CANARY AS THE 

 FOIINHATION OF VARIETY' 



As I believe this interesting Canary — the 

 grev or cinnamon to be the origin (after 



11 our pres- 



Grounds of 

 Belief. 



the wild green) ol' 

 cut kinds of Canaries, 1 shall 

 give, at this stage, the grounds 

 for this belief, which has been fouiuh-d 

 mainly on a study of my cinnainoii wild 

 birds, and on the cinnamon and oilur 

 hybrids I have produced : Ini- I ha\c satis- 

 fied nivself thai cinnamon blood, wherever 



* Tlie chief types are 

 "Canary Breeding." 



illustraled in colmir.- 



only in respect to colour and plumage, 



l)ut also to type generally —f.g., size and 



form of body. 



(1) 'I'hree rich-coloured self • cinnaiuon 



(irccnlinclics. accjuired in 1007 and kejit 

 in an outdoor aviary, in 

 1908 moulted pale cin- 

 namon. 



(2) One of my jjale 

 cinnamon Greenfinehes 

 of 1907 moulted paler 

 still in 1908, and is now 

 creamy-white, but still 

 shows traces of her 

 original c i n n a m o n 

 colour. 



We learn from this to 

 recognise several shades 

 and intensities of the 

 cinnamon ct)lour, which 

 occurs as a s})ort 

 among wild birds, a 

 fact which we must 

 remember later when 

 discussing the earliest 

 varieties of the Canary. 



(3) Two cinnamon- 

 \aricgated Canary-Greenfinch hybrids, bred 

 by me in 190G and 1907. each with a 

 small white spot on the nape and two 

 or three white tail-feathers (the rest of 

 the feathers being self-cinnamon), have 

 in 1908 largely increased the white areas 

 of plumage— the heads, tail feathers, and 

 coverts of l^oth showing white areas 

 which were previously cinnaiuon. 



( f) .V self - cinnamon Canary - Linnet 

 hybrid bred by me developed several white 

 tail-feathers at the second moult. 



(.-)) The origin of the old Dutch Frill : 

 One of the abo\ c cinnamon-variegated 

 Canary-(;rccn(in(h hybrids, after taking 

 sicond |>rizc at liathgate, in perfect plu- 

 mage, has moulted, in the second year, 

 into a Dutch Frill hybrid, the body- feathers, 

 although still cinnamon, showing the most 

 extraordinary twists and turns. The 

 lather of this hybrid has no Dutch Frill 

 blooil. as 1 have bivtl the strain for many 



