THE CRESTED CANARY 



283 



living in llie same place on Grapes Hill), and 

 asked liim if lie would reserve for me the best 

 he met with, which he did, the prices rnnninij 

 from aliout GOs. to 90s. When I called on him 

 he had jusl got a consignment ot Lancashires 

 from the North. Among them was an immense 

 bird with very long, drooping sides, but open 



to be a hen, anil bred two of the largest yonng- 

 sters I had had. I paired her to a BiilT Crestbred 

 cock, a real Bullfmch shape, but who had a 

 liroken wing. I also got a Clear Body BulY 

 Dark Crested hen from the late Robert L. 

 Wallace. She had a very large mop. About the 

 same time that f was buying, a gentleman 



A CRESTBRED WITH TYPICAL HEAD AND FEATHER. 



frontal coppy, showing the wliole ot his l)eak. 

 Nevertheless, I fancied him, as I thought he 

 had the densest, longest, and broadest feather 

 I had ever seen on a bird. His price was 7s. 6d- 

 I paired him to the longest and broadest frontal- 

 crested hen I had, and they turned out some 

 very useful stock, both Crests and Crestbreds. 



" A year or two later I claimed at the Norwich 

 Show a Grey-crested BulY cock that was in the 

 money in the Light Crest Champion class. He 

 was a model for shape of body, and had good 

 formation ot crest. I also claimed a Dark 

 Crest in the money in the Marked Yellow 

 Amateur class. This bird was considered by many 

 to be too long for a Norwich class, and showing 

 the Lancashire. Fortunately, it turned out 



living a few miles from here cleared out his 

 connnon birds, having caught the Crest fever 

 through visiting a Norwich Show. He pur- 

 chased from the Mackley Brothers some half- 

 dozen of the best pairs he could get ; but after 

 two years' breeding he found he could not make 

 of the youngsters he bred anything like the 

 prices he had paid, therefore was disgusted, and 

 offered me the lot, which I bought, and adver- 

 tised them in the only Fancy paper I then knew, 

 27(6 Exchange and Mart, reserving about half 

 a dozen of the best for myself. It, is therefore, 

 quite clear that I had at least six, probably ten, 

 dilTerent strains at the commencement. It 

 was all selection in this case, as I was crossing 

 to make a strain of my own. Pedigree had to 



