THE LIZARD CANARY 



303 



with ixll others of the family, the bird casts 

 its entire suit at the hrst moult except the 

 flights and tail-feathers, which retain their 

 original dark hue while the body puts on 

 its spangle, and it is then, as we have said, 

 in its show-dress. At the second moult 

 the whole is renewed with a great alteration 

 in character. The body-feathers become 

 much lighter, the delicate marginal fringe 

 turns paler in the Gold and whiter in the 

 Silver, extends farther into the web and 

 defaces the clearly-defined eye of the 

 spangle, which itself becomes less distinct 

 as the entire feather loses its original 

 brilliancy, and a general fading results, 

 shared by the stalk or quill also, which, 

 from being black, turns to grey, and 

 " black, home to the quill," no longer 

 represents the new state of things. This 

 takes place with all Lizards, but with 

 some more than others. We have seen 

 some year-old and even older birds of high 

 character very little changed, but all are 

 so far changed as to unfit them for show 

 purposes, except in classes given especially 

 for them, while others put on age very 

 .rapidly; and this tendency' to decline in 

 colour, which increases with each successive 

 moult, is a feature to which we shall have 

 to call attention in our remarks on the 

 London Fancy. A change, equally strik- 

 ing, also takes place in the flight and tail 

 feathers, which become perfectly white at 

 their tips and not luifrequently for a con- 

 siderable portion of their length. It will 

 be obvious, then, that extreme care should 

 be taken to prevent any misadventiu-e 

 during moult, which may result from its 

 losing any of the feathers and having them 

 replaced by others white-tipped. But 

 whether the feathers be moulted in the 

 due course of nature or abstracted by 

 accident, the damage to the show pros- 

 ]iects of a bird which ought to have its 

 eighteen flights and twelve tail-feathers 

 "black, home to the quill,"' is equally great. 

 Supposing the young Lizard to have left 

 his nest with his full complement of flight 

 and tail feathers, and to have come un- 

 scathed out of the nursery-cage — to which 

 he should be transferred as soon as able 



to leave the nest — there is still the ordeal 



of the " flight-cage " and the prospect of 



persecution and mischievous plucking by 



his fellows to be faced ; and he is a lucky 



and generally a plucky Lizard who in such 



a cage reaches the mature age of eight 



weeks in full possession of his entire 



original wardrobe. Hence the precaution 



taken by Mr. Rukin and other practical 



breeders of moulting their young birds in 



single cages, placing them in such as soon 



as they can well do for themselves. It is 



not absolutely necessary, but is a safe 



plan speciafly with those birds that possess 



perfect flights and tails. It is fairly safe 



to allow two birds to live together if the 



cage is of good size, and it is rare under 



such conditions that either will attempt 



to pluck the other ; but if more than two 



are together there is a great risk. 



To reduce the chances of accident to a 



minimum, in the first place, never catch or 



handle a yoting Lizard if it can 



RisKs of possiblv be avoided. In trans- 

 Handling. J • 



ferring young stock from one 



cage to another, do it gently and without any 

 fuss. Place the open doors opposite to each 

 other, and, quietly and patiently, coax the 

 birds to hop from one to the other. Do not 

 hold the second cage in such a way as to 

 expose the hand. The first mental act of a 

 bird on entering a new cage is repentance, 

 and actuated by fear and fright he always 

 makes strong efforts to do himself as much 

 injury as possible in endeavouring to get 

 out again. If a bird must be handled, as 

 in case of sickness, when it may be necessary 

 to administer medicine, or examine it for 

 other reasons, do not hold him in the 

 orthodox fashion by the tail and tips of 

 the wings, but lightly grasped in the hand, 

 or the consequence of a sudden flutter 

 may be that he will leave his tail-feathers 

 between your finger and thumb. 



The same general treatment as regards 

 diet applies to the Lizard as to the Norwich 

 and other varieties. 



The classification of Lizards must, it is 

 evident, be restricted in the first place to 

 the two forms. Golden Spangled and Silver 

 Spangled. These again can be sub-di- 



