THE CINNAMON CANARY 



261 



Neyalii'c Cutoiir I'miicrUcs 



A Self Jonque CiniuniKiii sIkhiUI not sliow any tin,;;c 

 of green, nor be dull aiul rusty or semi-opaque, nor 

 should it be patchy in colour or show dark stripes on 

 the back or saddle, nor should there ever be any doubt 

 as to the soundness of the cinnamon colour tluoughoul, 

 or any suspicion of a break. 



A Self Buff Cinnamon should not show any shade of 

 green, nor have the expanse of colour on neck and 

 breast hidden by meal, nor have dark stripes on the 

 back. Neither Yellow or Buff should be coarse in 

 feather, nor have a slovenly carriage of wings or tail, 

 nor have a narrow skull. 



VARIEGATED CINNAMONS 



Here the assessments correspond exactlj' 

 with those in the Norwich scales, due regard 

 being had to the depth of t"lie cinnamon 

 colour in the Evenly-marked class, as well 

 as to the purity of the clear body-colour. 

 This applies especially to the irregularly- 

 pied birds, in which the 85 points allotted 

 to the items "depth, purity, and brilliancy 

 of colour " must be understood here to 

 apply to those properties as attaching to 

 the cinnamon colour, which is here the 

 hody-coluur, the position of things being 

 inverted. 



CRESTED CINNAMONS 



The ordinary Crest Standard could be 

 very well adapted in judging these, with 

 this difference, ten points might be 

 given for purity and richness of sound 

 cinnamon colour on the parts of the 

 bird so marked. 



BREEDING CINNAMONS 



Note that we say breeding, not jDroduc- 

 ing — a distinction with a wide difference. 

 How originally produced we have endeav- 

 oured to investigate ; how to breed we will 

 show. 



In the whole round of canary-breeding 

 there is not a bird subject to such re- 

 markable peculiarities as the Cinnamon, in 

 whose blood abides an influence so subtle 

 as to make itself felt in a very astonishing 

 way. Were it not that these peculiarities 

 are certain in their action and invariable, 

 they would prove as jierplexing to the 



breeder as their cause is puzzling. Instead 

 of proceeding to emimerate them in detail, 

 we will begin by putting a case to which 

 probably many a, fancier will find a parallel 

 in his own experience. We will assume that 

 a breeder of the variety, roused to enthu- 

 siasm by the rich colour of specimens he 

 may have seen in the show-room, and 

 having heard of the potency of a Norwich 

 cross, has determined to import that blood 

 as a means of bringing his birds up to the 

 standard of the clay. He doesn't believe in 

 working with ready-made stuff, but prefers 

 to mix his own paint ; and what more 

 natural than that he should procure one 

 or two of the richest yellow Norwich cocks 

 he can find to pair with his Cinnamon 

 hens ? 



He has gone on long enough pairing Cin- 

 namon with Cinnamon, and has bred birds 

 beautiful enough in themselves and ajopa- 

 rently able to cope with anything he 

 remembers to have seen, but has found 

 himself a long way from the front when 

 his pet specimens have been compai'ed with 

 the celebrities of the year. The Norwich 

 blood is to perform the necessary transmu- 

 tation, and his very best hens are paired 

 as we have described. His first nests 

 rather surprise him : the young ones are 

 nearly all Greens or broken Greens, but 

 never a Cinnamon has he. These Norwich 

 cocks must have been bred from a very 

 strong Green strain surely ? Try again. 

 And he does try again, with the same 

 result, and again without producing a 

 single Cinna.mon feather. The season is 

 fast waning, and his room is full of Greens, 

 and many of them only very indilferent in 

 colour, but his Cinnamons are still in nubi- 

 bus. All this comes, he thinks, from having 

 neglected the advice given in a previous 

 chapter about ascertaining the pedigree of 

 the birds before introducing a cross ; be- 

 cause it must be the new cocks. He puzzles 

 his brain over it till he can think of nothing 

 else, and becomes a silent man. The wife 

 of his bosom, from whom he has never con- 

 cealed anything since they twain became 

 one, begins to be uneasy, and wonders 

 whether he has been accepting a little bill. 



