THE NORWICH CANARY 



207 



repaying us for the protection aiforded them 

 by the impetus they gave to some of our 

 inanul'actui'es. A great number of these 

 refugees settled in the county of Norfolk, 

 where they found congenial employment 

 in the woollen manufactories which had 

 been originally established at Worsted by 

 their kinsmen inore than four centvn-ies 

 before, under the fostering care of the 

 first Henry, just in the same way as the 

 silk-weavers, driven from France by the 

 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, 

 found their way to London, and, by their 

 skill, gave an impulse to our silk trade. 

 Canary-breeding, \\e know, had b_v this 

 time spread through a great part of Ger- 

 many, and was extensively engaged in in 

 the Netherlands ; this view is borne 

 out by Dr. Galloway's able treatise on the 

 Origin and Historj^ of the Canarj' in 

 Chapter II. of this work. It is only natural 

 to suppose that the refugees, in escaping 

 with tiicir little all to iind a new home, 

 woidd not leave behind them all their 

 home associations and pleasures, but would 

 carry with them their tastes and likings 

 for natural pursuits, which could not fail 

 to commend themselves to, and spread 

 rapidly among, the popidation round about 

 them. From that day to this — for the 

 introduction of steam-power into many of 

 our manufactures is only an event of a little 

 over half a century — the nature of the 

 occupation and the character of the in- 

 habitants has changed but little. Though 

 the iron horse now waits at the pit's 

 mouth, ready to run his heavy load 

 across streams bridged for his convenience, 

 over valleys filled up to make him a high- 

 way, and through hills levelled or pierced 

 to remove every obstruction from his path 

 on the iron road, and deposits it by thou- 

 sands of tons where the noise of machinery, 

 replete with life and giant jjower, has dis- 

 ])laced the modest loom and the music of 

 the shuttle, still there may be isolated here 

 and there a rose -covered cottage by the 

 roadside, where may still be heard the 

 quiet click, click of the primitive machine 

 which yet has a poetry of its own, and in 

 which some exquisite textile fabrics are 



Size. 



still woven by delicate fingers that know 

 no other handicraft. It is not to be won- 

 dered at that such sedentary employment, 

 carried on generally in the 'sixties of the 

 nineteenth century under the domestic 

 roof, should have a tendency to induce a 

 love of quiet home pleasures ; and it is 

 under such favourable auspices as these 

 that the Norwich Canary has for so many 

 years been nurtured, till its fame has 

 spread far and wide, the world ovei', and 

 other towns vie with the old cathedral 

 city from which the biril takes its name 

 in producing — nay, even excelling in the 

 jDroduction of — the most perfect specimens. 



Regarding the size of the Norwich 

 Canaiy, it is difficult to give exact measure- 

 ments, except of the length that the 

 bird must not exceed, for it is prac- 

 tically impossible to find any two birds to 

 measure alike in bidk of body or size of 

 any particular jDart. An exact standard 

 of measurements has been proposed by 

 some fanciers, but the very thought of 

 such mathematical definition of the bird's 

 proportions sends a shock to our nerves, 

 for we know too well the confusion which 

 would follow upon the adoption of such a 

 suggestion. 



The shortest and best description is for 

 us to say that the bird is similar in size to 

 a German Bullfinch. It is plump, chubby 

 as ojiposed to length and slimness, and is 

 stoutly built and bold of carriage ; quick 

 and active in its movements, and lusty 

 in its song, and when at rest stands at an 

 angle of about 40 degrees, measured from 

 a base line drawn from the tip of the tail. 



The head should be broad across the 

 skull, not round, but with a gradual rise 

 from the base of the beak 

 right over the crown, then 

 falling away gradually at the back of 

 the poll into the neck in an even 

 curve, with a good expanse throughout. 

 A bird with a small, narro\v head shows 

 to poor advantage, and has a iieculiar 

 expression when seen face on, giving one 

 the idea of being out of drawing. The 

 richest colour, too, is found on the crown, 

 and the larger the surface, the better the 



The Head. 



