246 The Canary Book. 



birds for exhibition in order to achieve success, and this must 

 be a matter of time and much vigilance. The " Dons " of 

 half a century ago were described to me by an old fancier 

 as "smallish birds, vara hookit in shape (circular in form), 

 and had vara thin sma bodies and gleg tails, and as souple 

 as eels " ; and further that they were " vara sma as compared 

 we burds ye see the day," referring to his own birds, we 

 being in his bird-room at the time. He said they were "real 

 bonny and nicely shapit." Those in his possession had, I 

 observed, a goodly supply of the old Belgian canary in their 

 composition, but nothing as compared with the birds of the 

 present period, which, for head, neck, and shoulder properties 

 would compare favourably with high-class birds of this variety. 

 I mentioned this to my friend, and his reply was, " That's 

 richt, they are weel crossed wi the richt stamp o' bird, and 

 that's hoo they are sae muckle improved, but it wadna dae 

 to use these straight-backed anes wi high shoulders and stiff 

 tails, as are sae fashionable the noo," referring to the modern 

 straight-backed Belgian birds with high shoulders and long 

 drooping necks. But even the taste of that day has been 

 modified, and birds of this description have been used in 

 order to gratify the modern taste of fanciers. In the 

 specimens published by Poultry, February 27th, 1891, 

 Mr. G. Lawson's buff Scotch Fancy cock, drawn by Mr 

 Harrison Weir, shows as much Belgian blood as that of the 

 Scotch Fancy. 



The idea of the present generation of fanciers is to get 

 the Belgian head, neck, and shoulders planted on the Scotch 

 Fancy body. Mr. Lawson's bird was specially referred to by 

 Mr. Thos. Smith, Vice-President of the Glasgow and West of 

 Scotland Association, and Secretary to the Glasgow South ern 

 and Glasgow Southern Albert Societies, at the annual meeting 

 and social gathering of the Glasgow Ornithological Association, 

 held on the 6th of March, 1891. Mr. Smith said, in reference 

 to arriving at a definite understanding as to what is really a 

 Scotch Fancy canary, "The latest was Mr. Lawson's buff cock, 

 which is a near approach to the best of the proposed models." 



