THE LIZARD CANARY 



297 



in Fig. c ; we refer to what is known as 

 a bald face, an example of whioh is seen 

 in Fig. d, in which tlie cap includes not 

 only the eye but a portion of the cheek. 

 This is a very serious defect, and is fre- 

 quently accompanied by other departures 

 from somidness of body-colour, of which 

 we shall treat in their jiroper place. 

 This bad blemish, which seems to 

 brook no control, might perhaps 

 be classed with departures from 

 soiuid body-feather ; but emanat- 

 ing, as it most frequently does, 

 from the cap, we prefer to treat of 

 it now. Figs, e and / illustrate two 

 forms which, while perfect in their 

 way, are undesirable shajies. The 

 first represents a short or inider- 

 sizcd cap, and the latter which droops 

 in the rear, and is, therefore, not on the 

 same plane throughout : of the two, 

 the latter is the least objectionable, pro- 

 vided always that the base be decided in 

 its outline. 



We have been thus minute in our detail 

 of every point, good, bad, and indifferent, 

 which belongs to the cap, because it is 

 considered by some of our best breeders to 

 be the feature of the bird. 



We now pass on to what, with all respect 



to the cap, we consider to be the feature of a 



Lizard — viz. its spangling. A 



Importance Lizard with beautiful spangling 



ofSpanghng. , •. , t^, 



always has its value, even it the 



cap be very defective ; but let the cap be 

 ever so good and the spangling bad, and 

 it is held in slight estimation. Of the two 

 we prefer to see a well-spangled Lizard 

 without a cajJ rather than a good cap with- 

 out spangle. The one is still a Lizard, but 

 the other nothing. Our idea is that even 

 balance is more diflicult to obtain than 

 excess of any one property ; but if asked 

 what we consider the essential feature of 

 a Lizard, our answer is " Spangle." 



And what is spangle ? We have in our 

 opening remarks briefly referred to what is 

 probably spangling in its rudimentary form. 

 An examination of a feather taken from the 

 middle of the saddle will show what it is 

 in its developed shajje. The flue of each 

 38 



feather — that is, the soft, silky portion next 

 the root of the quill — is entirely blue-black, 

 and we may say here that as a standard 

 point the blacker the flue the better ; but 

 as the feather finds its way to daylight, and 

 the flue assumes the character of feather 

 proper, the colour changes, and the centre 



Fig. e Fig. / 



UNDESIRABLE FORMS OF CAP. 



of the feather becomes black-brown, mar- 

 gined with a lighter shade, the central colour 

 increasing in depth till it reaches nearly to 

 the extremity of the feather, where it 

 expands into a circular form corresponding 

 with the outline of the feather, and is then 

 as nearly a true black as possible. The 

 marginal edging also assumes a new tone, 

 becoming of the shade we have described 

 as the body-colour, its extreme edge l>eing 

 fringed with a very narrow bordering of a 

 still lighter shade, which in the Golden- 

 spangled bird is the same as the cap, and 

 in the Silver has. in addition to what 

 coloured edge it may possess, an extreme 

 outer verge of white ; it is, in fact, simply 

 the buff or mealy form of the yellow bird, 

 and takes its name from the frosted, silvery 

 appearance this mealy fringe produces. A 

 reference to the illustration given on 

 page 298 will show this formation of 

 the feather and explain how one feather 

 overlapping another produces the appear- 

 ance we term " Sjiangling " ; and will 

 further show, better than we can describe, 

 how, the wider and blacker the expanse 

 of the central dark colouring, the larger 

 and more distinct will be the dark eye 

 forming the nucleus of each individual 

 spangle. This arrangement of colour is 

 seen in every feather, from the small ones 

 at the back of the head, and on the head 

 in a broken-capped bird, down to the larger 



