MOULTING ON COLOUR-FOOD 



i6i 



of l)cing ill lenguc with tiie naughty 



men of Sutton- in- Ashfielcl ; but not before 



he had dehvered himself of a promise, 



which he fulfilled almost to the letter, 



that next season he wotild bring out, not 



two, but a string of birds which he would 



send to every show in England, and with 



which he woidd take every prize, from 



Whitby in September, round to the Palace 



Show again in 1874, and that when he 



had thus vindicated his character he 



■^vould give the secret to the world. 



And he kept that promise. Next season 



he was invincible, and the exhibitors in the 



Colour section of the Canary 

 Colour=feed j.^^^^ij^, j^^^, ^„^^|^j. j^j^ ^^^^ 



Vindicated. , • ' , i • i n 



Some accepted then- deieat 



like men, and others writhed and wa-iggletl 

 like worms. In some directions confi- 

 dence began to grow^, while the now 

 historical birds fearlessly travelled the 

 coimtry. In others the opposition was 

 bitter, and every means that blind jirejudice 

 or petty interest could devise was called 

 into operation in the endeavoiu' to injure 

 the reputation of the exhibitors of these 

 birds. But the climax w'as reached at the 

 great Norwich Show, held in St. Andrew's 

 Hall in October, 1873, on which occasion 

 several of the Norwich breeders protested in 

 a body against the genuineness of a consign- 

 ment of these birds, which, " under our own 

 judging," said Mr. Elakston, " had taken 

 almost every prize within their reach. 

 From among a large number, seven were 

 selected for analysis, of the residt of which 

 we append a copy." It was his lot to be 

 connected with similar birds on their first 

 examination by a qualified analyst, and 

 he was oilicially concerned in them in his 

 capacity of judge on this the last ordeal 

 they were ever to undergo, and which 

 established their reputation on a basis 

 nothing could ever afterwards shake : 



" County Analyst's Oflice, 

 " Eastern Counties' Laboratory, 

 "Norwich, October 17th, 1873. 

 "Certificate of Analysis. 

 "Of Seven Canaries. 

 "Fiom the Bird Show in St. Andrew's Hail, 

 Norwich. 

 21 



Marie. 



70 



"I hercl)y certify tliat, in the presence of the 

 Chairman of Coniniittee and other representative 

 persons, 1 have examined tliesc Ijirds witli a view 

 to ascertain tlie presence of arlilieial colouring 

 matter upon their plumage. 



"ISIy opinion is tliat no artificial colour has 

 been used. "(Signed) Francis Sutton." 



Shortly after this the secret began to 

 ooze out, and the first use made of it by 

 some who liad been loudest in their demm- 

 ciation of the new school of birds was to 

 sell it, which was not discovered until one, 

 smarter than his fellow's, boasted of having 

 netted £50 by the sale of a gift. 



" This coming to our knowledge," said 

 3Ir. Blakston, " we jiut IMr. Bemrose in 

 possession of the fact, and 

 The Great q,^ December 11, 1873, he 

 published, in the Journal of 

 Horticulture, the grand secret of the extra- 

 ordinary colour of the birds which had so 

 completeh' demoralised the whole Canary 

 world ; and when he stated that the agent 

 employed was nothing more than Cayenne 

 Pepper, we must say in justice to the Fancy 

 that half of them did not believe him. But 

 in searching after hidden things how fre- 

 quently does it haijpen that we place our 

 hands near them, or even on them, and yet 

 are not aware of it ; and it was almost too 

 much for fallen humanity to be asked to be- 

 lieve that in the cruet which stands next to 

 the mustard, which some of them had been 

 using every day, lay the solution of the whole 

 mystery. The wonder is that it had never 

 been discovered before, for cayenne pepper 

 had long been prescribed as a comforting 

 sjiice ; and it is probable that its administra- 

 tion in excess first led to a knowledge of its 

 remarkable properties. There is also not 

 the slightest doubt that it had long been 

 used in very small quantities simply as a 

 condiment, and that it then produced effects 

 which were not attributed to it, but to 

 some other vehicle in use at the same time. 

 Years ago w'e were recommended to use a 

 patent pungent condiment as being an 

 excellent agent in conditioning certain birds, 

 and though we have not analysed it, we 



