THE CRESTED CANARY 



275 



lightly marked ; (c) Bull cock, green or 

 heavily variegated, more dark than light ; 

 (d) Buff hen. This classifieation, like the 

 Crest, could be further extended if the 

 various colours were bred in sufficient 

 numbers to warrant it, which would be the 

 case if every breeder endeavoured to pro- 

 duce them in the Crested birds, for as a 

 natural consequence we must get similar 

 colour and markings in the Crestbreds. 

 Classification in the Crestbreds might then 

 be extended as follows : («) Yellow cock, 

 {b) clear or ticked Buff cock ; (c) unevenly- 

 marked or variegated Buff cock ; (d) Buff 

 green cock ; (e) Yellow hen ; (/) clear or 

 ticked Buff hen ; (g) Unevenly marked, 

 variegated or green Buff hen. 



Be ore we proceed to deal with their 

 breeding we quote the Crest Canary Club's 

 descriptions of these birds, with which, we 

 may add, we entirely agree : 



" The standard of perfeclioii hi a Crest shall 

 be as follows : — Size and formation of crest 

 shall be the first consideration. A crest cannot 

 be too large. It should consist of an abundance 

 of broad, long, and veiny feathers, evenly 

 radiated from a small centre well over the eyes. 

 beak and poll. A good crest may be flat if 

 well filled in at back, and without splits, but a 

 drooping or weeping crest shall have the prefer- 

 ence. Type and quality are of the next im- 

 portance. The body shall resemble in shape 

 that of the Bullfinch, possessing substance in 

 proportion to its length, with a broad back 

 nicely arched, full and well circled chest, tail 

 short and narrow, wings not extending beyond 

 root of tail, nor crossed at tips, but fitting close 

 to the body. The neck should be full, and the 

 beak short. The bird should stand well across 

 the perch on short legs, with thighs and hocks 

 well set back." 



" The Crest-bred should possess a body as 

 above described. The head should be large 

 and round, broad at every part, with a small 

 beak, with an abundance of long, broad feather, 

 commencing at entrance of beak, continuing 

 over the crown, and flowing well down the poll, 

 and shall be well browed. In a good Crest- 

 bred the feathers on the crown when turned 

 over should reach to end of beak, and the heavy 

 brows should give the bird a sulky appearance 

 without brushing." 



BREEDING CRESTS 



The first general rule to be observed in 

 pairing birds for crest-breeding is to mate 



a Crest with a Crestbrcd, that is tlic Plain- 

 head bird bred from a Crest and a Plain- 

 head, and this rule is so general as to be 

 almost invariable. The reason for this is 

 somewhat obvious, if we bear in mind that 

 a Canary's crest is not a high spherical 

 tuft, but a flat, fimbriated arrangement of 

 the feathers on the top of the skull, which, 

 radiating from a centre, would have their 

 character entirely altered if any approach 

 to a high tuft were to take place. ^Ve have 

 seen indications of this tufted form, and 

 a crest without a centre is not so uncommon 

 an occurrence as to excite much surprise. 

 Tuft-crests, if we may coin the word to 

 describe these occasional departures from 

 the regular form, seem to present no 

 methodical arrangement of the feathers, 

 which themselves are different in character 

 from those found in a radiated crest, being 

 much shorter as a rule and apparently but 

 a slightly enlarged form of the ordinary 

 feathers on the crown, increased in number, 

 and, to use a homely but expressive phrase, 

 " combed the wrong way." Such tuft- 

 crests are generally very dense and more 

 like rough mats than anything else ; and 

 it has been found that repeatedly pairing 

 two Crests ultimately leads to the produc- 

 tion of similar forms in which excess of 

 feather, without any regard to arrange- 

 ment, takes the place of the radiated type 

 so dear to the fancier's eye, hence the use 

 of the Crestbrcd to retain radiation and 

 droop. At the same time, this does not 

 always follow as an immediate and direct 

 result ; and the general rule is occasionally 

 dcj^arted from when it is found desirable 

 to pair with a view to obtaining excess of 

 crest-feather at the risk of sacrifice of form 

 and radiation, which are not always, as a 

 necessary consequence, affected by a first 

 double cross. Much depends upon the 

 character of the two crests so paired ; if 

 of perfect radiation and good droop, some 

 of the most effecti^'e forms which have 

 ever appeared on the show-bench have 

 resulted from a happy hit in this direction. 

 In a general way, however, what is gained 

 in feather is lost in symmetry, which 

 requires to be afterwards developed by 



