HISTORY OF THE CANARY 



21 



years, and never owned a Dvitch Frill 

 Canary. 



((i) The origin of our birds of shape and 

 ■position : The same hybrid, along with the 

 frilled feathers, lias assumed a semi-upright 

 position, thus indicating the origin of our 

 Canaries of shape and position — e.g., Lan- 

 casliire. Belgian, Scotch Fancy, which 

 are su])posed to have come originally from 

 the old Dutch variety. 



(7) The start of a Fan-tailed Canary : I 

 have also noted that cinnamon Canaries 

 and hybrids sometimes develop an extra 

 nundjer of tail-feathers. One cinnamon- 

 variegated Canary of 1908 has thirteen. 

 I have also two hybrids with fourteen each. 



(8) The origin of the Lizard and London 

 Fancy Canaries : I have bred and now 

 possess alive two Siskin-Canary hybrids, 

 one with a perfectlj^ shaped golden-yellow 

 cap (most of the rest of the bird being dai'k 

 — heavily variegated) and the other ^vith 

 a beautiful silver-spangled back (most of 

 the rest of the bird being clear).* The 

 ea]i and spangled back are characteristics 

 of the Lizard Canary — a specimen of which 



THE LANCASHIRE COPPY CANARY. 



I never possessed. The spangled back 

 appeared at the first moult, just as occurs 

 in the spangling of the Lizard Canary. 



'Second prize. City of Glasgow show (1909). 



I have also bred several other Siskin- 

 Canary hj'brids with irregular or broken 

 Lizard caps. 



The Canary ]>arcnt in each case was of 



THE FRILLED CANARY. 



a strain with cinnamon blood, but with no 

 Lizard cross. 



Li addition to these characteristics of 

 the Lizard occurring in the hybrids from 

 a cinnamon-bred Canary, we know the 

 Lizard and London Fancy Canaries both 

 show the same unstable character of plu- 

 mage as the original cinnamon, both of 

 these varieties being fit to exhibit only 

 during the show season after their first 

 moult, owing to subsequent changes in 

 plumage, and both being extremely alike 

 in nest-feather and again at three or four 

 years of age. 



Consequently we may safely infer that 

 both Lizard and London Fancy have been 

 derived from cinnamon Canaries. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE CANARY 



Bearing in mind these points with regartl 

 to cinnamon wild birds and hybrids, let 

 VIS now turn to the Canary and study 

 the earliest authentic records of its 

 different varieties. 



We have already mentioned that the 



