104 The Canary Book. 



the following season. K preferred, some of the hens bred 

 from the last cross may be run with goldfinches, when, no 

 doubt, a few tolerably good males will be obtained from 

 them; but the canaries must be bred in-and-in for some 

 years longer before mules of the highest standard of excel- 

 lence can be expected. They must be so crossed as to insure 

 an intimate blood relationship; but while a pair should be 

 collaterally related, they must not be of common parentage 

 or of the same direct line, as the produce of these crosses 

 are generally puny and difficult to rear. 



DOUBLE-YELLOWS. Occasionally two yellow birds must be 

 put together. The produce of these will sometimes be found 

 scant in feather, and when crossed the same way a second 

 time will be still more so. Indeed, I have seen hens so semi- 

 nude by this process of breeding that the sight of them was 

 offensive. But these hens invariably breed the handsomest 

 hybrids. I once saw a very beautiful evenly-marked goldfinch 

 mule, which was bred from a hen that was so destitute of 

 feather, so pinched and hungry-looking in her appearance, 

 that I positively would not have had her as a gift if I had 

 not been cognisant of the above fact. 



My reason for advising you to breed from double jonques 

 is that you are sure to get more yellow-marked mules by 

 this method than by any other, and the yellow-marked birds 

 are the most valuable, as they are much more difficult to 

 obtain, and, consequently, more rare than buff-marked birds; 

 beside, this cross greatly enriches the colour of the birds, 

 which in itself is a weighty consideration. 



DOUBLE-BUFFS. In like manner pair two buff birds together, 

 say, once in two or three years, as by the adoption of thig 

 plan the birds will be greatly improved in feather, both in 

 quantity and closeness. It likewise increases their size, and 

 materially strengthens their constitutions. A trifle in colour 

 may be sacrificed by it, but this is readily regained by match- 

 ing a bird bred from two buffs with one of the opposite sex 

 bred from two yellows, and the blending of these crosses will 



