THE CINNAMON CANARY 



265 



■warmer Ime. This cross will also furnish 

 the breeder with several elasses of birds, 

 all of whieh are valuable for different pur- 

 poses. There will ])robably be Self-Cinna- 

 mons, at once, whieh will show the highest 

 and purest form of colour, and which may 

 be mated with the original strain without 

 more ado. It must not be expected that 

 such mating will produce nests entirely free 

 from blemish, because the Clear Norwich 

 blood is very near the surface, and will, 

 in all probability, bubble up ; but it is a 

 very safe cross, and one from whieh very 

 little trouble may be expected. Then there 

 will be others in all degrees of variegation, 

 heavy and light, which will require dealing 

 with according to the extent and quality 

 of the cinnamon marking. Some may be 

 merely ticked, some have nothing more 

 than pied wings or tail, and others may be 

 irregularly splashed. For every one there 

 will be a place. Some maj' be green or 

 broken green : these also can all be treated 

 as Cinnamons, and worked accordingly. 

 But some will probably show very fair 

 marking, either cinnamon or green, and 

 one or two may be clear from cinnamon- 

 coloured feathers entirely, but yet have the 

 pink eye. which, we may remark, can be 

 discerned by the merest novice directly the 

 young birds leave the shell, and is the 

 distinguishing mark by which the breeder 

 can determine at once the character of a 

 mixed nest in which he anticipates finding 

 Cinnamons. The existence of this pink eye 

 as the infallible tell-tale of Cinnamon blood 

 does not appear to be so well known as it 

 should be. Many instances have come 

 under our notice of persons having pink- 

 eyed birds without having the slightest 

 idea of their descent, any knowledge of 

 of the fact being further kept out of view 

 owing to many of these birds having been 

 bred for one purpose or another perfectly 

 clear, without as much as a single cinnamon 

 feather being discerned in them. Having 

 thus passed from hand to hand they 

 have come into the possession of persons 

 who were quite unacquainted with their 

 character, and, not suspecting it, have 

 mated them with birds of other breeds, 

 34 



with some of the perplexing results to which 

 we have referred. Young birds of this 

 class, when feathered, it will be well to 

 mark by a distinguishing notch on one of 

 the flight-feathers, or in some similar waj'', 

 or by placing a numbered Canary marking- 

 ring on one leg, taking note of the number 

 to ensure identification at a future day. 

 The value of those found to have good 

 technical marking, or even a decent 

 approach to it, cannot be over-estimated. 

 We have in them the starting-jDoint of a 

 marked strain, and there are many ways 

 of pairing, a few of which only need to be 

 suggested in order to indicate the direction 

 in which the work can be carried out. 

 The Cinnamon-marked birds, being all hens, 

 may be mated with Clear-bodied pink-eyed 

 cocks, with the tolerable certainty of having 

 marking of some kind reproduced. The 

 Green-marked cocks might also be similarly 

 mated with these hens, and by that means 

 two like tendencies would be concentrated 

 in one channel, even at the risk of pro- 

 ducing a heavy form of marking, or a lean- 

 ing towards irregular variegation through 

 the infusion of two streams of Cinna- 

 mon blood, followed up as explained in 

 the chapter on breeding Evenly-marked 

 Canaries. Or these valuable Green-marked 

 cocks might be paired with Clear hens of 

 a fresh Norwich strain, with a reasonable 

 expectation of throwing lightly-marked 

 Cinnamons or a further supply of pink- 

 eyed Clears, both cocks and hens, if these 

 Norwich hens have any Cinnamon blood 

 in them, to be made use of in the almost 

 endless ways in which the principles of 

 pedigree-breeding can be brought to bear 

 upon this remarkable Canary. 



Mr. C. L. Quinton, of Great Yarmouth, 

 one of our most successful Cinnamon 



breeders, writing to us, says : 

 A Personal 



Experience. " I have been breeding Cinna- 

 mons for the past twenty- four 

 years, and have always found the Norwich cross 

 the best with which to increase size and colour 

 in the Cinnamon, when I found it necessary to 

 take a cross. I breed my birds pure so long 

 as they retain good size and colour; but if I 

 fnid I am losing size, colour, or quality, I select 

 the largest Clear or Ticked Yellow Norwich 



