BREEDING FINCH-CANARY HYBRIDS 



353 



position. If the Lancasliire be used, select 



a sliort, stout-bodied bii'd. tight in leather ; 



but eleai" bred hens o\ this class are difficult 



to ])i'ocure, and it is best to breed your 



own muling hens on the lines indicated, 



occasional inbi'eeding being jiermissible 



to fix work accomplished, but its use must 



never be abused. 



As Even-marked Canaries have grown 



fewer, so have Even-marked Hybrids. For 



many years a separate class 



Even= -^yni^ given at the Crystal Palace 



marked 



Hybrids. 



Show for Even-marked Gold- 



finch-Canary Hybrids, and over 

 twenty snch hybrids have competed in 

 that class at a time ; but, interest declining, 

 the numbers dwindled, until in 1!K);} the 

 class was struck out, and they now compete 

 with the " Clear or Lightly Marked." 

 This points very definitely to one fact, 

 that as soon as fixity of marking was 

 neglected in the Canary we lost the source 

 from which we Ijred those marks into our 

 Hybrids, and that ground must be regained 

 ere we can produce Even-marked Hybrids 

 in numbers again. It is a charming 

 l)i-anch, the neglect of which is to be 

 depKired, and we refer our readers to 

 Chapter XIX. for the method o( establishing 

 " marks " in Canaries, nsing only Cinna- 

 mon blood to perpetuate Even IMarks for 

 Even-marked Hybrid breeding. 



We have advised the use of Yellow hens 

 in Hybrid breeding, and explained our 

 reason ; but we should not hesitate to 

 use a Buff which had [)roved herself a Light 

 Hybrid producer, or an Even-marked or 

 two- or three-pointed or a Ticked Buff 

 hen with a tendency to produce well- 

 marked Hybrids. We have also advised 

 the use of large Norwich type hens to get 

 good size in tiie Hybrids ; but it is not 

 advisable to pair too large a hen to such 

 small birds as the Siskin and Redpoll, 

 owing to difficulty of copulation and fear 

 of unfertile eggs. Hens not quite large 

 enough for pairing with the larger finches 

 such as the Goldfinch. Linnet, Greenfinch, 

 etc., can be utilised for the smaller birds. 



Most of the Hybrids dealt with in the 

 previous chapter can be bred either by 

 45 



Bullfinch 

 Hybrids. 



pairing the cock British bird to the hen 

 Canary, or vice versa. Several have been 

 bred in the latter way, but, as a ride, captive 

 hen British birds are not such free breeders 

 in a cage as the cocks. And thus the almost 

 universal use of the cock Finch and hen 

 Canary, (ircenfinch and Siskin hens, how- 

 ever, pair up t[uite freely with either a 

 cock Canary or other British Finch, and 

 will rear their own yoimg, and, as we 

 pointed out, the Canary-Bullfinch Hybrid 

 has only as yet been luoduced from the 

 cock Canary and hen Bulhiuch. The 

 latter not being a rclial)!c mother, her 

 eggs arc always transferred to a hen 

 Canary to hatch and rear. 



The question is often asked as to which 

 is the more likely Bullfinch hen to breed 

 in cage or aviary — one reared 

 by a Canary, hand reared, 

 or wild caught. Our own ex- 

 perience is that there is no dilTerence, 

 provided that the wild-caught hen is good- 

 tempered ; and remember, you are just 

 as liable to get faults of temper in hand 

 and Canary-reared birds. We hav^e had 

 both hand-reared and wild-caught hens 

 ])air iq) with the cock Canary, and suc- 

 ceeded in getting fertile eggs from both ; 

 unfortunately, none of them hatched out. 

 \Vhere these Hybrids are successfully 

 hatched the difficulty is to get the hen 

 Canaries to continue feeding them ; they 

 will go on all right for a few days, then 

 they appear to lose confidence, and become 

 frightened by the appearance of the large 

 gape which is conunon to these Hyf^rids — 

 being doidile that of a young Canary. 

 The hen will go up to the nest to feed them, 

 and as the young hybrids open their large 

 mouths, will rush away as if terrified at the 

 yawning chasm. This is applicable to all 

 Bullfinch Hybrids and may accoiuit for 

 the difficulty that Mrs. C. J. Skey, of 

 Plymouth, experienced with these Hybrids. 

 This lady had to resort to partial hand- 

 feeding in the specimens she successfully 

 reared. On the other hand, Mr. Ernest 

 Stevens, of Sidmouth. Devon, in 1!!08, 

 reared one of these Hybrids and a young 

 Canary in the same nest together, simply 



