CHAPTER XXIV 



THE LIZARD CANARY 



Wk enter now on u deseription of the l)irds evidence of its fixity, while the highest 



inchided in the second of tlie two groups examples of its cultivated development 



in which we have arranged the Canary siiow what it is jiossible to do by careful 



family — viz. those having a Distinctive breeding and selection. This spangled form 



Plumage, as opposed to the one simple of feather early attracted attention, and 



notion eml^odied in the idea of colour. To even in its im]X>rfeet embryo state seems 



this group belong the Lizard and London to have been regarded as a feature worth 



Fancy — tribes most probably intimately encouraging. The old volume we have 



related. It is by many considered an ojien ]n-eviously quoted from in oiu' notes on 



question whether the Lizard is an ofl'shoot the Cinnamon savs : — 



or a cultivated form of the Loudon Fancy, 

 or wlicther it is the parent of a bird known 

 to have been in existence more tluin a 

 century ago, and for which its admirers 

 claim an ancestry exceedingly remote, for 

 far back in the olden time, in the early 

 history of the London luincy, we believe 

 there is to be fimnd in its uii|iublishe(l 

 archives a k-gend tliat "about this time 

 i-omnion Ciuiaries were introduced into 

 Kiighuuk"" wiiicli is a sad let-down for the 



" The Fine Spangled Sort, commonly cnllocl, 

 French Canary liirds. and the Mealy Ones, arc 

 the Best to Breed with, for Those, who are very 

 Cnrious. 



Because, A Spanykd Cork, with a Meahj Hen. will 

 Pro<hice a more Reyiilar Spangled Fcatlier, than 

 it Cock, and Hen were IkUh Spangh'd. For Tlien, 

 They would Breed too Iliyh upon the Yellow. 

 Becanse, The Youn^ Ones. Tube mostly after the 

 Cuck llird in their Feathers, rather llian Ihc Hen." 



It is quite possible that tlie term 

 " spangled," as here used, may have a 

 wider and more general significance than 



Lizard family, who ap])ear to ])ossess in tiie restricted form in which we apply 



neither a wrilten nor a traditionarj^ his- it; but it is evident that si)angling of 



tory. \\c compromise, and suggest the some sort is referred to. even if the mean- 



lK)ssibility of each being as old as tlie iiig be as obscure as that of " ashen-grey " 



other, tiiough, if we liavc any leaning, it and otlier forms fif eokinr mentioned by 



is in favour of the J,i/.ard, which we think, okl chronickM-s. 



from sundry features in its ciiaracter. pre- The deseri|)lion of feather-marking to 



seiits indications that seem to ])()iiit to its wliieli we ha\e referred as being in all 



being the |)areiit sfem ratlicr than an off- 



shoDl. We shall pursue this (|nes1iou 



fnrlher in our remarkson the London Fancy. 

 Mosl proliably the Lizard was born of a, 



desire to dev(lo|) to its fnlkst extent a 

 deseri])tioii of feather-mark- 

 ing more or less common to 



every dark Self-coloured Canary, which 



bears the name of spangling — a form of 



feather not entiiely aliseiit e\t'n in some 



Clear birds, in which it may be I raced in 



a rndimentary shape. This fad alone is 



" Spangling. 



|)rol)al)ilil \' rudimentary s|)angling. and 

 eoinmiiu to most dark Sells, we may 

 describe as consisting of nothing more 

 than a darkening of the web on each side 

 of the mid-rib. edged by a lighter marnin, 

 in some instances more decided than in 

 others, but in all cases essentially the 

 same in eharaeler and consisting of tlic 

 ground-colour, the daik eeulie and the 

 liglitcr edge : and we aic not surprised 

 tliat the ])resenei' of siu;ilar fialliers should 

 lia\e set some of tin- thinking I'aueiers of 



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