THE LIZARD CANARY 



301 



restoration of balance of power from a 

 feather point of view only. 



As far as possible, pair dark birds. Do not 

 break up a pet arrangement to do this, 

 but try to work a breeding system with 

 this as one of its bases. Remember that 

 dark feather means dark spangling, and 

 that the Lizard will deteriorate in this 

 respect quickly enough if encouraged. 

 White beak, white legs, and white claws 

 are frequently followed by white some- 

 thing else. Mate with a view to a balance 

 of good properties — a problem not always 

 easy of solution, the practical outcome of 

 the " concentration " theory being that in 

 most good breeding-rooms two strains 

 insensibl}' grow up, good in most points, 

 but strong in one ; the exceptional bird, 

 the lion of its year, being generally a happy 

 hit in which, by means of two sister strains, 

 good spangle and fair cap have been 

 augmented by luiion with fair spangle and 

 superlatively good cap. But since experi- 

 ence has shown that the cap is the most 

 variable and intractable feature, never 

 hesitate to pair birds, however wanting in 

 this respect, even to the extent of having 

 no cap, if good caps have been bred from 

 the strain. And further, inasmuch as a 

 bald face, though connected with the cap, 

 is in reality a defective condition of body- 

 feather frequently accompanied by other 

 body blemishes, and is further indicative of 

 a disposition to grow light feathers instead 

 of dark — do not breed from these unless 

 for good reasons. 



This leads us to a brief notice of a few 

 things to be avoided or dealt with cau- 

 tiously, and chief among them 

 is the frequent use of any 

 birds showing white feathers 

 either in the wings or tail. These will 

 occasionally appear even in the best strains, 

 and puzzle the breeder as to their origin. 

 We are disposed to regard them, in such 

 cases, as mere sports rather than decided 

 indications of foul blood, and we would 

 not altogether discard an otherwise superior 

 strain simply on account of its now and 

 then producing a pied wing or tail. But 

 we need not say that it would be contrary 



Points for 

 Breeders. 



to the principles of Pedigree Breeding to 

 pair two pied birds unless we wished to 

 follow a suicidal policy with our stock. 

 Counteract the influence and check the 

 sport by mating with the blackest of black 

 wings. Do not try to stamp out any defect 

 in a hurry : it cannot be done any more 

 than good properties can be fixed all at 

 once ; and take care that in doing this 

 or anything else some other point is not 

 stamped out which ought to be stamped 

 in, or something added which ought to be 

 subtracted. Attention to or neglect of 

 these matters either means breeding or 

 else mere waste of time. 



In a discussion which took place in The 

 Feathered World some years ago on the 

 Lizard Canary, Mr. F. W. Baker, of Shaw, 

 Lancashire, a prominent breeder of the 

 variety, pointed out " the advantage of 

 pairing clear capped birds to broken or 

 noii-capped partners, the reason bemg that 

 we were likely to get better ground-colour 

 and spangle, also neater caps ; whilst in 

 pairing two clear capped birds together 

 there was a strong tendency to produce 

 over-capped young and to lose ground- 

 colour." 



There are, of course, times when it is 

 advantageous to pair two clear capped 

 birds together, for if there is a very large 

 percentage of broken caps among the young 

 birds, the pairing of two clear caps will 

 tend to increase the percentage of clear 

 cajDs. 



Mr. John Rukin, of Rawtenstall, Lanca- 

 shire, a very successful breeder and ex- 

 hibitor, in giving his expe- 

 rience of breeding and pair- 

 ing, says : 



Mr. Rukin's 

 ExperienceSc 



" I generally follow the orthodox way of 

 pairing yellow to buff, or, as the Lizard is 

 called. Gold to Silver, and I usually geL the 

 best results from such pairing. I have occa- 

 sionally paired two Golds together or two 

 Silvers, but unless you have some special point 

 you are working for this method is better left 

 alone. When selecting my pairs for breeding 

 the first thing I look for is good spangle and 

 ground-colour, as a Lizard, however good in size 

 and cap, unless well spangled would stand little 

 chance under a good Lizard judge in competi- 



