BREEDING EVENLY-MARKED CANARIES 



24T 



pointed to round, becoming squarer and 

 squarer in each succeeding feather till the 

 tip is merely rounded off at the corners, 

 the inner flights or concluding portion of 

 the secondary feathers, however, again 

 becoming more ovate and less substantial 

 in their structure. Allien the wing is 

 folded and at rest the marginal line is 

 entirely changed, being almost as irregular 

 as is that of the human hand when the 

 fingers are extended and consequently 

 at rest. Close the hand, as when in the act 



serious blemishes which it must be sought 

 to eliminate. 



The breeder will have to content him- 

 self with very slow progress on the journey, 

 and even approximations to what he desires 

 must be accepted and made the most of. 

 Where we found that any particular pairing 

 had the direct effect of fixing the point 

 aimed at. we shoidd again pair the birds 

 so bred, either among themselves, by select- 

 ing cocks and hens from the same nest, or 



A PERFECTLY-MARKED WING. 



(.The six inner (lights alone are dark.) 



A WING SHOWING SEVERAL DEFECTS WHICH ARE 



LIKELY TO BE PRODUCED EITHER SEPARATELY 



OR COMBINED. 



of grasping, and the tips of the fingers 

 will be found to be as much in a straight 

 line as is the margin of the wing when 

 in action. 



The second illustration on this page 

 represents a type of wing to which 

 we made reference on page 219. We 

 insert the cut here to show the breeder in 

 one view several defects that he will be sure 

 to produce either separately or combined. 

 There is the otherwise perfect wing, but 

 that the larger coverts corresponding to the 

 dark flights are dark also. Note, this is 

 not exacth^ a blemish, but the wing is 

 better without them, for we have just 

 shown how apt the green or cinnamon 

 colour is to ntn over, and the next steji 

 would probably be a few green or cinnamon 

 feathers in the margin of the saddle. 

 There is also the mixed wing, an unfortunate 

 white feather intruding itself among the 

 dark ones, or vice versa. Observe, also, 

 that the bastard quills are dark, and that 

 the first row of small coverts is also dark — 

 31 



with their own father or mother, for once, 

 if the stock was tolerably robust and free 

 from any weakly tendencies, or with others 

 from nests in which similar results had 

 been obtained, and so endeavour still 

 further to unite the various streams and 

 concentrate the same tendencies in one 

 channel. This would, it is obvious, 

 necessitate some departure from the regular 

 beaten tracks of everj'day practice, but 

 it must not be forgotten there is a specific 

 object for doing so. 



We have known of an Evenly-marked 

 bird being produced from a Green and a 

 Clear. We have also produced a really 

 good Even Green marked bird from an 

 almost Self-Cinnamon cock, having only a 

 light feather in one wing and the tail, 

 paired to a Clear hen. It is only reasonable, 

 then, with a force of dark colour imme- 

 diately behind such even-marked birds, to 

 anticipate much sporting in their offspring 

 luitil the dark colour is gradually reduced 

 to its proper strength and place by careful 



