25 1 The Canary Book. 



remember having seen a specimen of the old Dutch variety 

 adorned with a crest, and hence has arisen the appellation or 

 title of the " Manchester " or " Lancashire Coppy." It is now 

 thirty-four years since we first saw a bird of this kind, and 

 those we saw were the property of a very spirited fancier who 

 always made it a rule to purchase the best description of birds 

 of the varieties he kept that money could procure ; hence we 

 presume that the birds we then saw were good specimens of the 

 variety at that day; they were, however, much inferior to the 

 birds of the present day in size and contour, and at that time I 

 thought they were a cross between a Dutch canary and one of 

 the common crested variety, and I dare say I was not far from 

 the mark in my conjecture. 



POINTS. The Coppy is probably the largest and most 

 massive of all the members of the canary family, and a good 

 specimen should measure fully eight inches in length from the 

 tip of the bill to the end of the tail, and some birds may be 

 found to exceed these dimensions. I have one in my possession 

 now which is considerably over eight inches. 



The principal points of a.dmiration in these birds are size, 

 length, and stoutness, and crest. The head should be large, long 

 as well as broad, the beak small and neatly formed, and clear in 

 colour, the neck long, straight and massive, the body should be 

 of great length and very full throughout, with a deep broad 

 chest, large expansive shoulders, square, but not prominent like 

 a Belgian or Scotch Fancy canary, and should exhibit great 

 substance throughout the entire body, the body sho.uld likewise 

 extend considerably behind the thighs and appear thick and full 

 to the -seat of the tail. They should have good legs, long and 

 massive, showing plenty of thigh. The bird should be erect in 

 carriage, and graceful in its movements, and appear straight in 

 the back from the base of the skull to the rump, but having 

 a gentle but clearly defined curve from the throat to the vent on 

 the under side of the body ; the tail should be long and straight, 

 rather massive but compact, and slightly drooping from the tips 

 of the wings ; the wings should be closely braced and meet at 

 the extremities or nearly so, although Coppies are very frequently 

 cross-winged, the result of breeding too frequently from two 



