THE SCOTCH FANCY CANARY 



321 



Classification, 



elevates his shoulders, and brintrs his head 

 down below their level, extends his neck, 

 and moves his head about as if trying to 

 sight some particular spot, finally bringing 

 his tail right up against the perch, the tip 

 extending beyond it — the whole forming 

 a picture of grace and action to its 

 admirers, and well poi'trayed in our 

 Coloured Plate and the illustration on 



page 201. 



The Classification at 

 some Scotch Shows where the Scotch 

 Fancy is largely catered for is as follows : 



Cocks Hens 



(a) Clean Yi-llow. (ft) Clean Yellow. 



((■) Clean BnIT (</) Clean Bull 



(f) Foul-featlicred Yellow. (/) Foul-tcathercd Yellow, 

 (ff) Foul-fealhercd Hull (/;) Foul-feathered Bull 

 (0 Piebald Yellow (y) Piebald Y'ellow 



(fc) Piebald Bull (0 Piebald Bull' 



(m) Yellow Green (;i) Yellow Green 



(o) Buff Green (p) Bull Green 



In all, sixteen separate and distinct classes. 



The word " Clean," used in some schedules to 

 this day, is the equivalent of our expression 

 " Clear," but appHes to the external feather only, 

 while the English term refers to every part of 

 the feather, whether stalk, flue, or web. 



Tlie "foul-feathered" birds correspond wilh 

 our bona fide "Ticked" examples, but a lick 

 however small, will qualify, and very lightly 

 variegated specimens are also admissible, e.g. 

 such as are slightly marked on the wing or head, 

 but are clear of body-marks. These and Pie- 

 balds compete together now at many shows. 

 The " Piebald " section answers to our Heavily 

 Variegated, and we remark, furtlier, with refer- 

 ence to the Variegated groups — that is, the 

 Piebald proper and the Foul-feathered — anij 

 ground-colour is admissible, by which we mean 

 cither Green or Cinnamon, A Green bird in 

 Scotland is one which has no break in the green 

 on the back — head, neck, and back must be all 

 green : that is sufiicient. Few Scotch show- 

 specimens would pass muster in our Green classes, 

 where even a slightly run waist would disqualify. 

 The body-colour of these birds — i.e. the green 

 — is, however, of the most brilliant description. 



The hen, as a rule, is more lightlj- built 

 and less s})rightly than the cock. 



In breeding use can be made of a non- 

 show specimen, if it has 

 ing, shape combined with size, by 

 couiiteracting the tendency to be flat in 

 41 



A Warning. 



back or too stiff in tail by pairing it up 

 to a more refined specimen good in these 

 properties. Such a pair will often turn 

 out yotmg of the highest merit. 



Colour is not much esteemed, though in 

 close competition it might turn the scale 

 between a Yellow and Buff. As far as 

 possible Yellow is paired to BulT and Clear 

 to Ticked (or, as it is called in Scotland, 

 " Foul marked "), or else to Piebald or 

 Green, not so much to regulate colour, 

 but rather just as the birds are found suit- 

 able to each other in the essential points. 

 Some breeders pair systematically for the 

 production of Piebalds, and others for 

 Clears, by pairing a " Foul " and " Pie- 

 bald " together, or two Clears. But the 

 general principles observed in i^airing Clear 

 to Marked in other varieties are equally 

 applicable, provided that essential pro- 

 perties are not sacrificed. 



A word of warning here will not be out 

 of place, and that is that the Scotch 

 Fancy must not be carried 

 farther in the direction of 

 the Belgian, for if we cross the line farther, 

 then the Scotch nuist either be lost in the 

 Belgian or the Belgian in the Scotch Fancy. 

 Already many Scotch Fancies have gone 

 too far, and should never have appeared 

 on the show bench. Breeders must be in 

 earnest about this, for the welfare of both 

 varieties. Without wishing to dictate, we 

 say the Belgian has for some years been 

 too freely used. We have got size in our 

 Scotch Fancy, we have length, shape, and 

 all other properties, and we should only 

 resort to the Belgian to maintain shoulder 

 and reachiness of neck and de]n-ession of 

 head when we are unable to obtain 

 suitable material among Scotch Fancies. 

 It is the pairing up of birds not far removed 

 from the Belgian to the Belgian direct that 

 has produced so many broad shoulders, 

 straight backs, and stiff tails on the show 

 bench to-day. Had such birds been paired 

 to third or fourth crosses from the Belgian, 

 better results would have been attained — 

 young with shoulders good, but much 

 narrower, the back well rounded, and the 

 tail more curved into the perch— proper- 



