BREEDING EVENLY-MARKED CANARIES 



239 



ill the tail to the extent ol' a feather or 

 two on each side — which, by the way, 

 owing to their not adding much to his 

 beauty, the bird is as well without — we 

 have indicated the necessaries. Then he 

 does not want, and must not on any 

 account have, any body-marks, which 

 are the great bugbear to be exorcised. 

 The great difficulty, indeed the difficulty, 

 will be in making a beginning, because, 

 select what stock he ma\', and let it look 

 ever so promising, the probability is that, 

 luiless it really has been bred for some 

 length of time with due regard to the 

 principles of selection and rejection, the 

 offspring will show surprisingly little of 

 the points desired. In commencing, there- 

 fore, the first thing we should insist on is 

 that the birds chosen should be entirely 

 free from body-marks of any kind, except 

 those desired, because when it is remem- 

 bered how intimately these are connected 

 with irregular variegation, liable at any 

 time to make its appearance in the most 

 provoking way, it will be plain that any 

 trace of this should be studiously eschewed. 

 The accompaniments of this sort of thing, 

 also, and the indications of its presence 

 not far beneath the surface, such as any 

 considerable amount of dark flue, dark 

 legs, or dark beak, must be considered as 

 dangerous concomitants to an otherwise 

 promising-looking bird, and will represent 

 shoals and quicksands the dangers of 

 which will be patent to those who have 

 read carefully our remarks on development 

 of clear colour from the normal green in 

 breeding the Norwich Plainhead. Fully 

 satisfied as we are, both from practical 

 experience and extensive observation, that 

 our theory on this point is correct, and 

 based on sound premises, we should select 

 birds which, as regards the body, fulfilled 

 ail the requirements of Clear birds, although 

 the bona fide marking on them was not 

 strictly even, but was really marking, as 

 technically understood, and nothing more 

 — that is to say, we should not hesitate to 

 breed from birds having nothing further 

 than one good eye-mark, or good eyes and 

 only one wing, or any similar defective 



arrangement of the feathers we do want, 

 provided only there were the entire absence 

 of those we do not want. Birds having 

 ej'e-marks only, or wing-marks unsupported, 

 we should regard as valuable material so 

 long as they were clear in the body ; and 

 even these will, when paired together or 

 with absolute Clears, throw quite sufficient 

 irregularly-pied birds severely to try the 

 patience of the most patient breeder at 

 first. We need scarcely say that birds 

 showing all the desired points in a high 

 degree of perfection would of course be 

 valuable allies ; but it may be accepted as 

 a fact that the greater the amount of the 

 marking, the greater the risk of reverting 

 to the variegated form ; and we know that 

 this risk is so great that we would, in be- 

 ginning, prefer breeding from the lesser 

 degree of marking and take our chance of 

 getting it reproduced in an improved form, 

 to breeding from birds in which the heavier 

 marking, if not established, would be almost 

 certain to land us in a wilderness of blotches 

 and irregular patches. That is, instead of 

 putting two such birds together marked on 

 eyes and wings, pair one such up to a bird 

 marked on both eyes, and the rest of the 

 body clear or even one marked on one eye 

 only, and the rest of the body clear, or a 

 Clear bred from Even Marks. The strength 

 of dark blood is thus reduced, the tendency 

 to variegation averted. 



Unevenh'-marked birds, such as we have 



referred to, are not difficult to find; they 



frequently occur in large stocks. 



Mow to ^^^^^ some, not being exhibition 

 Proceed. " 



birds, are not generally much 



valued, and the breeder who is on the look- 

 out for them will be able, in the course of 

 a season, to pick up many such. These 

 opportunities should not be neglected, 

 always having due regard to the quality 

 or character of the marking, and not 

 gathering up indiscriminate rubbish, but 

 neat birds, free from objectionable features 

 and showing some one desirable point 

 clearly developed. 



This, wc think, will show the description 

 of raw material we should select, and our 

 reasons for so doing ; and anyone who has 



