THE CINNAMON CANARY 



259 



birds are only stock birds ; bul — and it 

 is these " buts " that make all the differ- 

 ence — some of the most beautiful specimens 

 are amongst the foul-marked birds, so why 

 should they be hidden in the breeding- 

 room ? If the Cinnamon Canary is to be 

 saved, and hold the position it ouglit in 

 the Canary world, some such classification 

 will have to be adopted in addition to 

 that for self-coloured birds. We hojic these 

 remarks may be the means of a trial l)cino- 

 given them. It was once tried. I)ut not 

 continued for long enough. 



The Evenly-marked birds are judged 

 in preciseh' the same way as in the Norwich 

 variety, due regard being had 

 Evenly= j.^^. ^i^^ richness of the Cinna- 



marKed 

 Cinnamons. '"Oil markmg, and extreme 



care being required to detect 

 any small ticks, which are not so discernible 

 on the deep orange grovuid as are the 

 green feathers in other varieties. 



Evenly-marked Cinnamons of the Nor- 

 wich type (we might even include other 

 types) are as yet entirely in their infancy, 

 and we do not remember ever having seen 

 a class set a]iart for them ; indeed, wc 

 question whether there are enough birds 

 of the kind in the country to make a 

 respectable show, even if Yellows and Bull's 

 were grouped, those claiming to be evenly- 

 marked being found cither in the compre- 

 hensive Variegated division or among the 

 Evenly-marked s])ecimens exhibited as such 

 without regard to their being Colour, 

 Shape, or Position birds. This is one of 

 the anomalies of our cut-and-dried system 

 of show classification, and yet, at the same 

 time, an arrangement which can scarcely 

 be prevented when it is remembered that 

 there are not many of either of the three 

 types, and that, until each is more exten- 

 sively bred, financial considerations compel 

 them to be so grouped and judged for one 

 common property — viz. even-marking — 

 although each has a separate and distinct 

 property, apart from the marking, for 

 which it has been especially bred. The 

 bringing of birds having dissimilar pro- 

 perties into competition in the same class 

 is defensible only as a matter of policy. It 



is an inconti-ovcrtible axiom that it is 

 impossible to compare unlike things. We 

 may compare colour with colour, size with 

 size, shape with shape, position with 

 position, or any like with- its equivalent, 

 but when wc eudcavoiu- to institute a 

 comparison between colour and shape, or 

 any other dissimilars, we attempt an im- 

 possibility, and the result is an absurdity 

 out of which sjirings as nnich unpleasantness 

 as is possible to be born of such a Babel of 

 confusion of ideas. Yet such, we fear, must 

 remain for a time, at least, until nu)re of 

 this class of bird (except in the Border 

 Fancy variety) are bred. At many shows 

 a class is now given — at some, two — where 

 evenly Green and Cinnamon-marked birds 

 only compete together. 



The few Evenly-marked Norwich Cinna 

 mons which have from time to time 

 appeared — doubtless, to a great extent, 

 chance productions — have been birds pos- 

 sessed of beauty enough, one woidd have 

 thought, to fire the enthusiasm of the most 

 imimpressionable fancier ; but the bird has 

 as yet failed to take any great hold of the 

 show world, and up to the present time we 

 have seen but little indication of its occupy- 

 ing the prominent position it might. With 

 all the lustrous beauty of the clear plumage 

 of the Norwich bird, it has a softness and 

 delicacy peculiarly its own. Granted that 

 the contrast between green and gold is 

 more striking than between chocolate and 

 gold, and that the dark pencilling of a 

 Norwich eye is more effective than the 

 softer auburn ; but it is in the quiet, soft 

 expression that the beauty consists. The 

 marked Bufi's have a chaste refinement 

 about them that cannot be gainsaid. 

 Wliether it arise from the admixture of the 

 Cinnamon blood, bringing with it a softness 

 and peculiar tone in the colour of the clear 

 portion of the pliunage, or from some other 

 cause, we know not ; but there is that 

 about the texture and colour of the BuiT 

 which is found nowhere else, and this 

 beautiful quality is so patent that even in 

 the case of an almost perfectly clear pink- 

 e3^ed bird, or one having so few cinnamon 

 feathers that they require to be sought 



