314 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



much of tlie loiif^er upper liiu' roally belonged 

 to the outlino or domain of shoulder, whicli ex- 

 tends much farther tlian lluit i>oinl indicated 

 by the lips of the pinions. 



Tlie shoulders themselves are very high and 

 l>rominent, and in a good specimen should be 

 liioad and massive, the pinions not projecting 

 lliroLigli the scapular featliers or those at the 

 u]>per ])art of the Ijack and leaving a vacancy 

 l>etween, but being well covered l)y tliem. tluis 

 destroying every api>earance of angularity Ijy 

 producing a rounded surface of considerable 

 area, and further l)y filling in tlie space between 

 the shoulders to a level with the back, whicli 

 itself should be long and well filled, all of which 

 features are considered strong jjoints in the con- 

 figuration of a Belgian. A line from the liack 

 of the shoulder through to the breast will gi\e 

 the deepest transverse section. The breast 

 itself should be prominent, but not full or broad, 

 and, following a prolile line from the bottom 

 of the throat, may be observed to [iroject in a 

 very graceful curve. 



The wings are long, and cannot be carried in 

 too compact a form. Tlicir ap]>arent length 

 frequently depends on tin- style in which the 

 bird stands ; but in a good siiecimen they will 

 frequently reach to a point below the junction 

 of the feet with the legs, and consequently below 

 the upper surface of the perch on which the liird 

 may be standing. Some birds, when in the 

 least excited, have a habit of opening out the 

 extremities of the wings and showing the up])er 

 tail-coverts; but this is a most undesiral)le 

 exhiliilion. 



Tile Imi(I\-, from I lie breast downwards, sliould 

 gradually tapei', the feathers of ttie \cnl and 

 lower regions merging in those of tlic unilt'r tail- 

 coverts in a regular way, giving a wedge-lik<' 

 appearance to the body from every ])oiiit of 

 view. 



Tlic tail is long and narrow, and should apin'ar 

 Hkc a coutimiation of tlic tapci- arrangcmenl of 

 the hotly ratlu'r than of a listi tail form. The 

 sliajK' and arrang<'nieiit of I lie tail Icallicrs 

 necessitate tlir biriiialiori i>\ a siiiall fork at the 

 exlremitv, tml llic iiioic i()Ui|iacL the tail the 

 smaller will t)c ttiis fork, and ttie nearer will the 

 tail approach to llic standard, which requires il 

 to be iiiped as opi>osed to expanded. Thighs 

 and legs should be long and straight, the foi'mer 

 well covered and hidden for tlu' greater poilion 

 lit their len.nlli in ttic ftsitlicrs of ttie tiody. 

 I'lexcd knce-joiiils present an iiiisi.i;lit ty appear- 

 ance, as if dislocated, anil arc (o lie aMiidnl. 

 Tlie feet and claws should lie perfi-ct ; they do 

 not dilTer from those of other Canaries. 



The feather throughout should be line in 

 (piality and compact, though many otherwise 

 beautiful specimens arc inclined lo be rough, 



and some dispose their feathers in such dis- 

 orderly fashion as to ])rescnt a really ludicrous 

 a])pearance. .Shajie and position, however, 

 cover a multitude of sins in a Belgian. Beauty 

 of plumage we have ever maintained should 

 play a most important part in the show economy 

 of every bird, and an exaggerated display of 

 coarseness we hold to be a serious drawback 

 even in a " position " bird. Colour is seldom dis- 

 jilayed to any great extent, but when present 

 adds much to the beauty of a line-f<'athered 

 specimen, of which a good examjile is shown in 

 our Coloured Plate. 



.Such is the Belgian Canary in his fnrinalion. 

 the ]ieculiarilies of which are not presented to 

 . . the eye until, in a state of nervous 



Position. e.xcitement. he braces himself to- 

 gether and shows what the little frame is capable 

 of doing in the way of " position." much in the 

 same way as the I'ouler among ])igeons shows 

 himself in his pride, the dilTerence being in our 

 bird that " shoulder " is the ele\aling jioint. 

 On entering a room in which a number of 

 Belgians may be caged singly, or in numbers 

 in flight-cages, we are not at first struck with 

 the peculiar meril of any one s])ecimen. Tlir 

 very best of them, which when put in position 

 may exhiliit the most remarkable conformation, 

 is seen hupping in a slovenl> mannei' from one 

 perch to another, or silling a|)i)arently in 

 meditation. His legs are certainly loo long, 

 and set too far back. He cannot , when on the 

 bottom of the cage, keej) his lail ofT the ground, 

 and when iiecking at a grain of seed stilTi'iis 

 his legs into two siilinlers. slraighter.s his tail 

 into the same line witli the liody, lik<' those 

 artistic conceiilious mi ctiildren's toys, and 

 liiiiks ciuinenlly uiiiiimtiuiable. Wait awhile, lie 

 hops on a low perch, and from that lo a higher, 

 dro])s his tail, which was never intended to Ix' 

 dragged about on the grmiml. pulls liiniscir 

 together a little, stretclu's an iiuii or two. antl 

 is already not the swan out ol water he was a 

 moment ago. You pass him into an ojien show 

 cage, and i)ossibl\' one or two others hop in at 

 the same time. Let them remain. Don't hurr\- 

 or frighten tliem in any way : a few minutes will 

 set tluiii to rights. I lang the ea^i' a little 

 higher, on tliat nail just above tlie te\rl of tlic 

 eye in the far corner of I lie roiini. wlu'i-e tlie 

 attention of the birds will not be distracted by 

 the bustle and twitter in the other cages. Don't 

 lift the cage by the toi>, or the birds will perhaps 

 ciiwer and become more frightened at the novelty 

 111 the situation : take it by the bottom and ktcp 

 the hand out of sight. Surely these cannot be 

 the same birds we saw in the flight '? They are 

 already standing in an creel altitude with their 

 legs straightened, Iheir wings tucked iq) closely. 

 tails so nearly in the same line with the back 



