MIM^nLZ 



YOUNG COMMON CANARIES IN A FLIGHT. 



CHAPTER XIII 



MOULTING ON COLOUR-FOOD 



ifeprltt 



\Vk ])ropose now to consider the qnestion 

 of nioiiltinir from a jjoint of view whieli 

 clothes it Avith a profounder interest than 

 that felt by the fancier when regarding it 

 as a simjjje, natnral phenomenon conmion 

 to bird Hfe. He divides the whole Canary 

 family into three principal groups, com- 

 prising the colonr section ; those having 

 distinctive jjlumage ; and the birds of 

 shape and position. With the first of 

 these, as well as some of the others, moult- 

 ing has everything to do ; and the sjjccific 

 treatment and special dieting practised 

 while the operation is going on, with a 

 view to imlucing the development of colour, 

 has ever occupied the closest attention of 

 those breeders who have made the colour 

 section their specialty ; and such are by 

 far the larger number of the body com- 

 prising the great world of the Fancy. 



The prolilem of what is colour, how 

 produced, and how affected, is one which 

 breeders have long tried to 



The Colour 



work out, each in his own 



Problem. 



way, according to his own 



theory, with varying success. That some 

 Canaries have the native i)roperty of 

 20 ■ I 



developing it to a greater extent than 

 others, is patent. We know why st^me 

 violets are blue, and why some are not 

 blue : why grass is green, and how it is 

 that llowers are painted with parti-coloured 

 tints. And there must be a reason why 

 some birds are decked with all the colours 

 of the rahibow ; some law which governs 

 the change in the hues of the summer and 

 winter plumage of certain of our native 

 birds, as well as the more strongly marked 

 changes in those coming to us from tr()[)ical 

 climes. What colour really is, wliat are its 

 chemical constituents, can all be clearly 

 defined ; but how, when fed from the 

 same fountain, we find it existing in so 

 many separate hues in one and the same 

 member, a single feather to wit, is a seem- 

 ingly incompreliensible mystery. 



This, however, is not a treatise on the 



mysteries of creation, Ijut on the more 



practical matter of moulting 



~f'"'^ . Canaries. A thoughtful con- 



rheories. " 



sideration of the fact that in 



the earliest stage of their growth the 



feathers of the Canary, as of all other 



birds, are )iot feathers, but simply little 



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