THE CRESTED CANARY 



271 



constitutes what is known as being well 

 " filled in '" behind, and is more frequently 

 the case in Buff birds than in Yellow, in 

 which the feather years ago was so scanty 

 as to show plainly this openness, and in 

 those made uj) of the daisy-petal type of 

 feather the vacancy behind became a 

 i:)ositive eyesore. Of late years, however, 

 so great has been the progress that it is 

 rare now to see even a yellow crest display 

 this bare patch at the back of the head. 



A good crest shovdd not stand up in the 

 front, and, if a dark one, should show no 

 light feathers over the beak, or on any 

 other part of the crest. It should not be 

 narrow or pointed in front, but every part 

 of its circumference should be, as far as 

 possible, equidistant from its centre. The 

 idea of an oval-shaped crest is not intended 

 to convey the notion of a narrow front, 

 only that its length exceeds its width ; 

 the front must still be circular without any 

 clipping away of corners. Neither shoidd 

 a good crest be " tucked in " at the sides, 

 by which is meant having the outer edges 

 broken or pinched-in behind the eyes, 

 giving the crest the appearance of being 

 formed of two parts. It should not have 

 any split or opening in the front, nor should 

 the " centre " assume the shape of a line 

 dividing one side from the other, called by 

 fanciers a " running centre"; nor should 

 it be a point from which diverge two lines 

 or partings in a backward direction right 

 and left, destroying the appearance of 

 perfect radiation. Nor should it be without 

 any centre, and simply a heavy tuft of 

 feathers falling smoothly over from back 

 to front ; nor should it be a mop. Neither 

 shoidd it be flat and exhibit no texture or 

 feathery appearance, as if pressed out with 

 an iron, which it will be observed is the 

 exact converse of falling over the head in 

 a drooping form. It should not be wider 

 at the back than in the front : nor should 

 it be tilted up at the back, and carried as 

 if there were a danger of its sliding off ; 

 nor shoidd it be shaped like an escutcheon, 

 nor be square at the back, nor have dexter 

 and sinister corners twisted up as if having 

 been put into curl-jjajDers. The edges 



must not be ragged, as it is often when 

 composed of pointed feathers, giving it a 

 slovenly appearance as if combed out into 

 hair ; but the imbrication must be com- 

 ]ilete and the outline as clearly defined as 

 the small arch of the extremities of the 

 feathers of the outer edge of the circle will 

 permit. It nnist not be thin and sparse, 

 but dense and full of feather, radiating 

 evenly all round from a well-filled, neat 

 centre. This full description is well aided 

 by the illustrations given of the Crest 

 Canary in our Coloiu-ed Plate and other 

 engravings. 



The classification of Crests is similar to 

 that of Norwich Plainheads, but the order 

 is inverted. We have the 

 three main divisions — 

 Dark Self-coloured, Variegated, and Clear, 

 with subdivisions broadly corresponding : 



Classification. 



Plainheads 



(a) Lightly Variegated 



(b) Evenly-marked. 



(f) Unevenly-marked. 



(rf) Heavily Variegated. 

 (e) Ticked. 

 (/■) Green. 



{g) Clear. 



Crests 



(a) Clear Body with 



Dark Crest. 



(b) Evenly - marked 



Crested. 

 (f) Unevenly - marked 



Crested. 

 ((/) Variegated Crested. 



(c) Grey Crested. 



(/■) Self-coloured Green 



Crested, 

 (ff) Clear Crested. 



It is a matter of taste as to which of 

 the first two takes precedence, as both are 

 singularly beautiful ; but as it is more 

 diflicult to produce a clear body with 

 sound dark crest than it is to breed a 

 bird with even wing marks and dark crest, 

 the order in which we have placed them 

 is that generally accepted. Groups (c), (rf). 

 and (/) are in most schedules combined 

 under the head of " Variegated or Self 

 crested." Also, («), (e). and (g) are simi- 

 larly grouped under " Clear body with 

 Green, Grey, or Clear Crest," and rank 

 in value in the order named. 



The Dark-crested Clear-bodied birds are 

 the beau ideals of the careful breeder's 

 eye, and rightly so if we take into consider- 

 ation their difficulty of production. The 

 Evenly-marked Dark Crest is also very 



