l84 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



Ii(> lodkid iiilo hiliT nil. I (lid well in lin-cd- 

 ing each year, fiidliiiK an avt'rayu of Iroiii six 

 to nine per |)air; Ihcn, Ihinkins I I'oulil do willi 

 a liltk' inori' Yellow blood. I jnirchased a >i'lli)\v 

 (j-estl)red eoek from llie lale (leorge Winus. ol 

 Norwieli. he lia\ iiifj; pul dcjwn year alter year 

 al llie Xorwieli Show soiiie\c'i'y ij;rand Yellow 

 (Irests. 1 aKo not another l.aiieashii'e troin 

 the Norlli. a lUilf I'lainhead eoek. tnnii wliieh 

 I kept Iwo or three of hi.s sons. ()f course, 1 

 was now getting various-shaped eresls; some 

 had fair hacks, hut fronlals ran alniosl lo a 

 poiiil. These I paired with (j'eslhreds lired 

 troni the nicest-hacked crests for two or three 

 seasons until I had a few with broad, perfectly 

 finislied hack crests. At the same time I was 

 pairinf> those that had long, broad frontal crests, 

 hut were (]|ieii and s([uare at back, with C.rest- 

 lireds lacil from heavy frontal cnsls. 'fwd or 

 three pails of tliese latti'r I nialeil cdusins. 

 I'p to this time I had mated every pair Ci'est 

 to Crestbred. I now ran a few pairs of double 

 Crests — I prefer a Grey and (Ireen (j'est for 

 double Crcstint; in preference to two of tlie same 

 colour — tliose witli the heaviest frontal crests 

 with faulty backs to the most ])erfeet back 

 crests tliat had faulty frontals. reserving foi- 

 st ock from these crosses the besl all-round crests 

 and those with the heaviest frontals, also nearly 

 all the C.i-i'sl bre(ls. 'riie lest 1 discardetl — thai 

 is, all those with faulty fronts. 



" The next season those bred from the double 

 Cresls were i)aire(l Crest lo Crestbred. I was 

 now getting some nice Cresls antl Creslbreds, 

 and a lew of the mosl |i(ifeet I ])aired iin- 

 relaled to work from hji- Ihc lirst I wi'i\'e or fifteen 

 years and lhroUL;h kccpiiiL; about lifly pairs 

 this last lifleen years 1 had a liig school to select 

 from, which enabled me lo keep .going nuieli 

 longer than anyone with a small stuck. I lia\r 

 maled together cousins also, uncle and niece, 

 and aiiiil lo nephew, bill I ha\c iie\er run 

 an\lhiiij; nearer in relationship. .\s an t'Xperi 

 meiil 1 d(iulile-crcsled a pair or Iwo for three 

 or four generations, and being <piite salislied 

 by the result that nothing was gained by such 

 repealed ddiible-cresting. I have never tried il 

 again. 



" I have heard sc\i'ral times of Crest men 

 recommending the <-i-oss (jf Iwo Creslbreds. 

 I may be a bit dense, but I could iiexcr see where 

 any good could come from sucli ('rossing, that 

 is for stock for eresl-breeding. 1 usually get 

 loo many Grcstbreds without breeding especially 

 for I hem, and some good ones loo. in the same 

 nest as a good show Crest. I lia\i' lued a nest 

 of live youngsters, four of which took a tirst al the 

 Crystal Palace Show, a Crested eoek and Crested 

 hen, and a Crestbred cock and Crestbred hen, 

 Ihe fiflh bird was, I lielie\e, a (irey Cresl, not 



worth more than 2'K. Therefore 1 ne\cr thought 

 it necessary lo breed specially for Show Cresl- 

 breds. I have bred two or three Show Crests 

 from Double Crests, but as a mile they come 

 rather rough in cresl. and some lia\c ulcers on 

 llieir heads. thoULth they make \'ery useful 

 slock birds. 



"The besl (a'ests llial I lia\e bred were all 

 Ijred from a Crest and (j-estlired logellur. My 

 ' King of Crests.' which I refused C7(l for al the 

 \S[)7 Crystal Palace Show, was Iu-imI fnnn a 

 wing-marked liulf Dark-crested hen. and a 

 Ifeaxily \'aricgated Hull' (Crestbred eoek. Two 

 years later I bred a better bird still, a N'ariegaled 

 liiifT Dark-crested hen 'Queen of Chaini)ions.' 

 and showed her at llie Crystal Palace. I then 

 sold her. and she was taken out to Australia. 

 Slie was bred from a Dark - crested I'.uiy 

 cock, and a liulf Green-crestbred hen. My 

 ])resenl besl Crest, the largesi and densest 

 crest I have ever had. was bred from a wing- 

 marked Dark-creslcd Huff hen and a IJghlly 

 \'ariegated Dull Creslbred cock. Also Ihe best 

 (a'ests and (Jeslbreds stained during the ])ast 

 ten or Iwehe yi-ars 1 bred from a Crest, and a 

 Crestbred paii'ed to.nelher. 



'■ f ha\i' done \ery little dduble - cresl ing 

 during the past fifteen years, only a pair or 

 two somelimes — several seasons none at all. 

 If I run a pair now they nnist be of dilYerenl 

 shape, crests and colour, as I previously inferred. 

 Some twenty years ago Crest men used to say 

 that all the best Yellow Crests shown had 

 (annamon blood in their veins, and that \ou 

 could Udl i;et them ucidd wilhdul. AIIIuuil;!) 

 [ ne\i'r saw a ciniiaiiKui leather in m\' bird 

 room I soon bred wlial 1 tliduulit Id lie the best 

 ^'ell()w• Crest I had seen, .\fter getting a nice 

 lot of youngsters from him I sold him lo Mr. 

 .Idlin lleeldi'. of Aberileeii, and after doing a 

 little work in Seolland he came lo Nottingham, 

 where be was called Ihe ' Champion of Nolling- 

 hain.' f heard that lliere was a wonderful 

 ^■ellow■ Crest coming fioni Ihe home of Ihe 

 Yelldws to Ihe !8t)l Crystal Palace Show, and 

 wlu n I was going through the Crest classes I 

 was surprised lo liiid Ihe winner in the > Cllow 

 class was iidiie nther lliaii the did biiil I had 

 sdld lo .Mr. I lector. lie was I hen bought by 

 Mr. George Wilder of Norwich, and shown al 

 Ihe next Norwich Show, where he was named 

 the ■ World's Wonder.' He then passed into 

 the bands of Messrs. Mackley lirothers, aiul won 

 again for them al the next Crystal Palace Show. 

 I ha\i' bri'd some grand ^'ellow ta'ests since, 

 and have now Ihe lar,L;rsl >'elldw' Crest I have 

 cM-r seen, all without Cinnamon blood. 



" 1 haM' not double - bulled for more than 

 two or three generations, then a Yellow cross 

 is necessarv — that is, when the 15ulVs used each 



