234 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



huL il proved a cock, and was ai,'ain sold fur a 

 singing bird. I aflcrwards bought it, as t 

 l<nt'\v it was lired from two good liirds. and t 

 [jaircd liini to a nice Clear Yellow hen whiih 

 I had bred from a Ticked Yellow tliat ha<l done 

 some winning for me. 1-Yom this iiaii- I bred a 

 grand 'I'ieked Hut), ami \\\\vu he was eighteen 

 months old the late .Mr. ,lohn Sandiford, of 

 Preston, claimed him for £10 10s. at Pendleton 

 show, and afterwards named him ' The King.' 

 This bird was well known to show-goers as one 

 of the finest Ticked Buffs that had been seen 

 in the show seasons of 1901 and 1002. Altogether, 

 then, I have hati excellent results from doidjie 

 buffing, but it must not be done too often, or 

 colour will be lost. If there is plenty of varie- 

 gation in the slock, and double buffing is not 

 resorted lo too often, no harm will be done. 

 I may say I have never failed to get good 

 quality from double bulTmg, besides getting 

 shorter, thiektr birds, \\ith regard lo Green 

 blood, I have never been without one or more 

 of this class of bird in my room for the past 

 fourteen years. 



" I think the best way lo get Green birds is 

 to pair two Variegated birds together. One 

 season I paired a Yellow Variegated cock to a 

 Bull cap and wing-marked hen — both good in 

 type and good size — for the purpose of getting 

 some good dark stock birds. I got a good 

 Buft Green lien, and a Heavily Variegated Yellow 

 cock ; both these birds were large and of good 

 type, with a good amount of feather, but they 

 carried il tight, and in its proper place. Now 

 these two birds did me a lot of good. Prom 

 the hen, paired to a Clear Yellow cock, light 

 in feather, I bred a (^lear Bull cock that bred 

 mc the best Yellow-marked hen I ever had. 

 From the Yellow-marked cock, paired lo a 

 Clear ]3ulf hen — a nice, close-feathered bird — 

 I bred two Bulf hens both in one nest, and both 

 .show birds. One was slighlly marked on eadi 

 wing, which I showed in ' slock pairs,' and she 

 won when she was six months old. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, she died when nearly dry, 

 after being washed for the next show. The 

 other hen was a grey-tailed one, wilh clear body ; 

 she did a good bit of winning, including Isl at 

 tlie International Contest, held at Pendleton 

 between the luiglish and Scotch Xorwich 

 Plainhead clubs. I also bred a Bull tireen 

 hen from the same Yellow-marked cock, and 

 to this I paired my old saddle-marked Yellow, 

 which won at the Palace for me when an ' un- 

 flightcd.' lie also won at the P. and P.O.S. 

 Show, held at the Palace, |)reviously being 

 shown amongst the old birds, as there was not 

 an unllighled class. He was bi-ed from a 

 Yellow (ireen hen. l-'rom this pair 1 bred a 

 good ^■ellow• Green ben. also a Variegated Bull 

 cock— -the one which 1 exhibited so successfully 



in 1905 and P.IOG, taking Isl al Xotlingham, 

 in a class of thirty-one unflighted. 1 also bred 

 ti'iim the same jiair the year pie\iiius a Ticked 

 ^(•llow which proved a winner. 



■' By this it will Ije seen 1 ha\e had good 

 results from using plenty of (ircen blood. I 

 do not think that success would lia\e followed 

 from double buffing if I had not had jjlenly 

 of Green blood in my stock, though, of course, 

 it must be regulated with Clears so as to breed 

 a good percentage of Clears as well as Green 

 marks ; but Green blood is an adxantage when 

 (IouIjIc bulTnig. 



" I tried Ciimanuin blood in breeding Norwich 

 Plainheads about Icn years ago, and found 

 I could get plenty of colour in the young from 

 it ; but the type of birds I bred from them did 

 not suit me, so I discarded them. 



" The plan that I liave found best to get rid 

 of long wings and tail and undesirable carriage 

 is, when I have had good stock birds with j)lenty 

 of substance and fairly good type, but possessing 

 Ihese faults, to mate them to small hens that 

 have been bred from good typical birds. These 

 hens being small, and bred from tyjiical birds, 

 are short in wings, tail, and body, and when 

 paired to these long flighted and tailed birds 

 have produced good show birds. I have bred 

 show birds from these little hens — hens that 

 some fanciers would not look at a second 

 time. One 1 remember in particular — I think 

 the smallest hen I ever i)aired up. She was a 

 Yellow, and I paired her lo a large cap and 

 wing-marked Buff cock, which had plenty of 

 substance, but was rather long in wings and 

 tail. Prom this ])aii' I bred as ly|)ical a Buff 

 cock as I excr had, with fair-sized, shorl wings 

 and lail, and the best of qualily ; his only faidl 

 was that he was a liltle pinched al the back of 

 the head. He won for me at Peeds ; I believe it 

 was the first Norwich Club medal the present 

 Norwich Canary Club ga\e. 



" 1 should not ad\ise bleeding wilh hens 

 Ihat have long wings and lail. Nearly all 

 small hens bred from good slock have good 

 wing carriage and short wings and tail, so by 

 breeding with these hens one gels short wings 

 and tail and good carriage as well. If long 

 wing and tailed hens are used for Norwich 

 breeding, they must be paired with cocks that 

 are short in wings and lail. 



" ,\s lo in-breeding, the breeder is tpiite safe 

 in practising this while he has plenty of size 

 and stamina in his stock, and has a special 

 object in view. I will just give one instance. 

 One season I jiaired my old saddle-marked 

 Yellow for one nest lo a Clear Bull hen lo 

 whicli he was grandsire ; this hen was bred 

 from the two lUilIs that 1 mentioned in connec- 

 tion Willi double buffing, and was sister to my 

 (^lear Bull Nottingham winner, but a vear older. 



