I5S 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND liRITISH BIRDS 



settlers stni'i'd :it cacli dtliei' in spceclilcss 



aiiiazeinent when, alter wasliiii^ their liisl 



|)an, tliey rduiul tlie little sliiii- 



^. ^'■^^' iiio- lumps (>r oold ill the hot- 



Uiscovery. '^ ' ^ 



toiii : and tli(iiiL;ii. to anyone 



not in the great Fancy, it may seem 

 absurd to draw any eom})ariscni between 

 the two e\ents, we do not know which ol' 

 the discoverers I'elt the greater delight, I'or 

 each had found yold. To whom belongs 

 the lionour ol' the discoNiry to which we 

 rel'er we are not in a |)osilioii to say. It 

 lias been said it was Hist I'ouud out by an 

 old lady giving her singing canai'y, which 

 was not well, some cayenne |)e))|)cr with 

 its food, to see if it would do the bird .luy 

 good, and the birtl, being in tlie moult. 

 began to show tlie eifects of the eayemie 

 in its plumage. A fancier noticing this 

 asked the old lady what she had Ijeen giving 

 her bird. Having ascertained this, he 

 experimented further. 



This statement, however, must be taken 

 for what it is worth : there may be truth 

 in it. but we do not know the actual soui'cc 

 from which it originated. No one has to 

 fiur knowledge set up a definite claim to 

 the honour of the discovery, but the 

 fact of its having i)ecii made came out in 

 this way. 



Towards the close of the moulting season 

 of ISTl. rumours were rife in the ."Midland 

 districts that in the neigh- 

 bourhood of .Sntton-in-Ash- 

 licld some ext rai)rdinar\- birds 

 had been bred — candoiii' compels lis to 

 state that for a long time the suj^erior 

 (|ualitN' of these bii'ds was asserted to 

 belong to the breed or strain which il 

 was alleged I he diseo\'erer of the grand 

 secret had in his possession. Had it been 

 openly staled llial a new " IV'cd "' ha,d been 

 discovered, it is very |irobable that that 

 fact would h.avc been aeeipted more 

 willingly than the assertion that the breeder 

 h;id hit on a snperioi- combination of blood, 

 which story was altogelhci' discredited; 

 the new birds were reeei\((l with lhegra\'esl 

 suspicion on some hands, and axowed 

 unbeliel' as to their geiininencss on till' |)art 

 of others. Some of the l)est !)reeders of 



The First 

 Effects. 



the day examined them: and though all 

 known tests failed to show that the colour 

 was due tci au\' oiitwai'il ap|ilicati()n, yet 

 one mystei'ioiis fact stared them in the 

 face — the birds were of /leo culoiirs .' An 

 explanation of the fact that the colour was 

 owing to the feed, and not to the strain, 

 would still lia\-e cleared up this (lillieiiHy. 

 which is now understood ami will Ix? 

 explained presently : but this \aluable 

 strain (?) would then have lost its market 

 value. As the colour section. howi.'\-er. had 

 always ruled in the market aceoriling to 

 the dc|)th and purity of the colour of 

 its representatives, and sueli colour had 

 always conniianded its price as represent- 

 uig breed or strain — a fiction f»f which 

 the many outside the feeding cii'cle we 

 ha\'e before mentioned had been tlie 

 \'ictiins for years — we can scai'cely be 

 surprised at the diseoverei- of a new Iced 

 endca\'oui'iiig to make his marki-t in 

 the same way. This may all seem very 

 naughty, and convey the idea of a lax 

 code of morality, but it is nc\-ertlu'less true. 

 We ourselves, and a large circle of friends, 

 had been fireeding colour liirds for years 

 — and this at a time, bear in mind, when 

 Canary shows were not rejiorted. and when 

 the Canary had no literature of its own — 

 and wt' hatl never heard of feeding as 

 inlluencing colour. \Ve well remember 

 the knock-down lilow we received when 

 a fancier in a high position, whose status 

 in life and ollieial |)osition — for he was a 

 magistrate forliadc thi' idea, of anything 

 but the exercise of any but the most 

 honourable eoiidiiet. told us to give u|) 

 trxing to breed colour-birds, as the 

 secret lay in the feeding and not in the 

 breeding. In the present existing state of 

 things, when the doings in the Canary 

 world ai'c chronicled weekb with as niiich 

 accuracy as the rise and fall of tin- money 

 market, it would be next to impossible 

 for intelligent men to grope in the dark 

 as we did : but we are giving a true account 

 of Caiiai'N' society as we roiiiid il in llie 

 "s(>\enl ies, when some, who ought to ha\e 

 known better, persistently followed out 

 the (juest ionable policy of preaeiiing hrcrd. 



