336 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



llii.nli. Willis and lail arc (it f^ivat k'liglh. ami 

 llio tail is iiu-lined to clroj) or curvo a little. fji\ iii.U 

 ])()si(ion and cari'iafie a slifililly cufNt'd appcar- 

 aiu'i'. Tlu' lu-ad is iiuliiK-d hi lif simicwliat 

 coarse, narrow, and long, and the leathers in 

 some birds turn up a little in a shell-like form 

 at the liaek of the head, like a nun jiigeon. The 

 heak is rather long and tapering : the neck long 

 and lliiii for the luiild of fhe bird. The bathers 

 over the entire body should be lon.u. line, and 

 silky in texture, and paii down llie centre of 

 the baek. forming up inlo tiirled-like clusters 

 on either side. This is called Ihe "' mantle." 

 and the heavier this mantle ami Ihe more e\cn 

 the long curls on either side, the greater its jier- 

 feclion. On eillier side of the bi'east Ihe 

 feathers are wavy. con\erging to llu- centre in 

 llie shape of a shell, the larger the clusters the 

 lietlcr ; these are called the " craw." Those to 

 the righl and left forming two large bunches of 

 loose feathers in the region of the Ihigh-bone. 

 well formed and frilled up. aie called " fins." 

 It is on Ihe |)arts nanie(l whci'e Ihe frills form 

 u|) lo their greatest pc'rfection, ;.nd it is sur- 

 prising how even they are in a good specimen. 



Tlierc are Clear. Yelldw, Buff and 

 Variegated ))irds, as in other varieties. The 

 roughness ol' tlie old Duteh Canary was 

 taken advantage of by Continental breeders 

 with a taste for properly formed frills, and 

 it (inly wanted careful seleetion of the most 

 suitable birds for fixing and perl'ceting the 

 desired points. 



Mr. Jolui L. .7. Qiiarles von UfTdni. Tlie 



Hague, \vhen writing in The Fciillurcil 



W'inhl (if the IJuteh Canary 



Views of ami the " l*'riil " in particular, 



Dutch 



Breeders. 



savs : 



all over I'urope I'oi' the beautihd and splendid 

 \aiicly of C.anai'N Ihcrc cultivaled; Ihal nmsl 

 have been about 17UII; and soon after, in Ihe 

 stormy limes Ihal followed in our eouulry, most 

 ot our birds were sold ; some went lo I'.ngland 

 olhcrs to ISelf^iuni, and cxcn taiiher soulh lo 

 P.oubaix, a lowii in tlie norlh ol I'rancc. There 

 can be lillle doubt Ihal Ihe s|ilendi(l \arielies 

 of I he (;anar\ now in Ijiglaiid must largely 

 owe Iheir origin to the old Dulch (".anary. Ot 

 them all the Lancashire is now Ihe neaicsl lo il 

 in aiipearance. When did Ihe Dutch (Canary 

 change inlo yours '.' Impossible lo lell : changes 

 of which there are no record look place, and 

 slowly, by being crossed and re-crossed, the 

 varying types evolved. When we got a nice 

 bird from an oiiliiiary i>air we ]>ut it aparl and 



tried lo get a similai' one lo malch il. and so 

 we ini]M'o\cd Ihe breed." 



]\lr. C. L. \\ . Xdiirduyn. Holland, says 

 in the same jduinal : 



" 'S'ears ago we had iiuich lai'ger birds in Ihe 

 south of Holland, and doidilless such are slill lo 

 be found there, and also probably in Xorlh 

 Uclgiuni. II is (piite within the probabilities 

 that the Friscs (Frills) have come from these 

 birds in Ihe following manner. When the curly 

 feathers wei'e lirst noticed on certain birds, an 

 elVorl was made to im)>i'ove and increase tliem 

 by constantly pairing those birds together which 

 were most frilled, so al last ai>peared the 

 Friscs which are bred so nnich in llie 

 north of France | Houbaix and surrounding 

 country). From there the bleed was laken 

 to Paris, where it was steadily improved, till 

 we have Ihe noble examples which we have had 

 the pleasure of seeing al English exhibitions for 

 the past few years, some of the best of which 

 have licen imjiorted." 



Baron du Tlieil, Dorclogne, I'ranee, 

 says : 



" There is some slighl dilTerence in the t\pe 

 of some of the Dutch Frills, some being very 

 much smaller and not so stilty on leg. though 

 well frilled, hiking more to the Yorksliir-c lype." 



It may lie necessary at times to take 

 an out-cross to keep up stamina or some 

 other ])ropci'ty, but a rough 

 and not a snuidlh-feathcrcd 

 bird should be selected. \Ve 

 ha\c ])roduccd perfectly smooth-feathered 

 birds from the lii'st out-cross of a good 

 Dutch Frill hen and a Yorkshire cock. Not 

 a youngster from these showed the slightest 

 signs of frill, tlie Ijack. too, being |)crfectly 

 sniodlh. We produced similar irsults from 

 a good Duteh Frill cock and a \'(irkshirc 

 lien, some of the young after the moiill 

 showing tlu' slight(.'sl tendency to a frill 

 on the point of the bi'east, such as would 

 be produced from a Jiclgian and \'orkshirc 

 cross. 'I'lic wisdom will tinis be seen of 

 using only birds with I'ough, open ])lumage, 

 looking as if the feathers had been .stroked 

 the wi'ong way and causing the tips to 

 slightly curl. 



In ])airing j)ure-brcd I'lills. as a rule 

 ^'(•llow cock is ]iaircd lo BulT hen, or vice 

 versa. .Some Continental breeders make a 



Breeding 

 Dutch Frills. 



