S6 TheCknary, 



CHAPTER VI. 



OUR LONDON FANCY BIRDS. 



F all the varieties of the canary, perhaps thi& 

 is the most beautiful of any. It is known in 

 the trade as the London fancy, because it is 

 there that it is chiefly bred. They are of a rich golden 

 yellow or deep orange, with black wings and tail, like 

 the bird represented on the opposite page. About their 

 breeding there is much mystery and some peculiarity 

 which fanciers like to keep to themselves. To get into 

 these secrets is almost, if not quite, as difficult a matter 

 as to penetrate into the mysteries of training a race- 

 horse for the Derby or St. Leger. One thing is certain, 

 that to produce them in a state fit for exhibition at the 

 annual show at Sydenham, as much training and atten- 

 tion, united with skill, is required as is necessary to 

 bring a high-bred racer to the post. Not only must the 

 bird be fed on the most nutritious and dainty food, but 

 the sides of his cage must be encased with glass to 

 shade him from every draught of wind ; and he must be 

 kept at a high temperature, like the race-horse, to pro- 

 duce that condition and glossiness in his plumage which 

 shall enable his owner to obtain the prize. That it is 

 strictly a cross-bred bird I have no doubt, inasmuch as 

 there is this peculiarity about it, that when quite young 

 it is mottled all over on the back something after the 

 fashion of a Lizard, and that it only acquires its clear 

 golden yellow after its moulting, and then retains only 

 the pure black of its wings and tail the first year. The 



