BREEDING THE NORWICH CANARY 



235 



From grandsirc and grandilaiighler 1 go I Lhrco 

 birds all Yellow — i.e. an Evenly-marked hen, an 

 Unevenly-marked hen, and an Unevenly-marked 

 cock. The cock proved a great winner, amongst 

 his honours being 1st at Manchester and 

 Nottingham. This liird was not shown as 

 an ' unflighted,' as he was a very late-hatched 

 bird, and did not get fmed down in the first 

 moult; his winnings were secured after the second 

 moult. I only bred with him one season, as he 

 died a week Ijcfore the Palace Show, being then 

 only nineteen months old." 



This shows the effects of in-brceding ard 

 tlie importance of not sacrificing stamina ; 

 but as Mr. Beardall points out, he had the 

 consolation tliat this bird bred before he 

 died tlie largest Buff hen he ever had, and 

 from his sister, the Unevenly-marked hen, 

 he bred a good Dark bird that won for him 

 in a Dark class. Mr. Beardall's experieiace 

 is another demonstration of the fact that 

 in-breeding with blood relations should 

 only be adopted as a means to an end, to 

 fix work accomplished. If pursued indis- 

 criminately with any strain or stud of 

 birds there is no siu'er road to ruin for 

 that said stud, for loss of stamina means 

 eventually loss of the stud ; this is fully 

 explained in the chapter on Pedigree and 

 Line Breeding. 



]Mr. John Trcngrove, of Rishton, near 

 Blackburn, another successful breeder and 

 exhibitor, favours us 

 with a summary of his 



Mr. John Tren= 

 grove's Notes. 



experience. 



He savs : — • 



" It is now about sixteen years since I first 

 took up this interesting hobby. I started like 

 most novices, in a very humble way, with only 

 about two pairs of Norwich. P'or a time 

 failure seemed to dog my every footstep, but 

 still I kept plodding on until better luck knocked 

 at my door. My breeding stock for the last 

 few years has varied from twenty to twenty- 



five pairs, pairing up in the old-fashioned way. 

 Yellow cock and Bull hen, or vice versa, but 

 I do not make any hard and fast line in respect 

 to Yellow and Buff. I have not derived any 

 benefit from doul^le yellowing, I tried this 

 method for a few seasons, but always found that 

 the young lired in this way were very thin in 

 feather, and also failed in type. With double 

 buffing my experience is quite the reverse. 

 By pairing in this way I have been fairly success- 

 ful, having bred some very good birds that 

 have held their own on the show bench. My 

 Clear Bull 1st and Special for best Norwich at 

 the Crystal Palace show in 1905 was bred 

 from a Buff cock and Buff hen. My Clear 

 Yellow, which held an unbeaten record in 1905, 

 and was 1st at the Crystal Palace in 1906, was 

 bred from a Buff cock bred from BufE parents. 

 But great care must be used when pairing two 

 Buffs. I always use birds of medium size, with 

 good type in the hen, and showing plenty of 

 meal. I am a firm believer in Green blood, 

 and always keep a good supply on hand. Green 

 blood, in my opinion, being the very fountain 

 of colour. Much has been said both for and 

 against in-breeding ; but if tliis method is 

 tried with care the result will be found beneficial 

 both in regard to type and quality of feather, 

 I have had good results in this way; even when 

 pairing son to mother the result has been most 

 satisfactory. Care must be used, however, 

 not to pair the young bred in this way with 

 each other, or the result will be disappointing." 



With these notes we take leave of the 

 Norwich Canary. We have endeavoured 

 to indicate the principal steps to be taken 

 in breeding it, but the fancier will discover 

 as he goes on that there are many little 

 by-paths in which he will be able to 

 wander with pleasure, and will find that 

 the general principles we have enunciated 

 will throw ample light on his path, and 

 enable him to make his way with as much 

 of certainty as attaches to a pursuit in 

 which there is a great deal of speculative 

 uncertainty, an element in which perhaps 

 consists much of its charm. 



