The Cinnamon. 269 



is, as a matter of course, much paler and more dingy-looking 

 than the standard colour recognised in the genuine article; 

 still it is for all that an unmistakable cinnamon hue. 



A few years ago I mated a good jonque Cinnamon cock 

 with a jonque Lizard canary hen both being odd birds, but 

 of first rate quality. I thought they would do for feeders 

 if their produce proved worthless. They bred nothing but 

 pure greens and Cinnamons, but chiefly the latter, and all 

 were very rich in colour, and were much admired by everyone 

 who saw them. A friend of mine had a young green cock from 

 this cross, and the following season he 'mated him with three 

 hens of different breeds, as an experiment, and in every 

 instance good average specimens of Cinnamon canaries were 

 produced. 



Some people will tell you that Cinnamon canaries are bred 

 by crossing a green canary with a clear yellow one, but, unless 

 one or other of the parent birds has some of the genuine 

 Cinnamon blood in its composition, you may depend upon it such 

 a circumstance will never happen. I have known people who have 

 put jonque green birds to clear yellows, and buff green birds to 

 buffs, over and over again for this purpose, and I have done the 

 same thing myself many years ago, but all to no use. That 

 some people have succeeded in breeding them in this way I do 

 not for a moment doubt, but I am quite confident the Cinnamon 

 blood existed in one or other of "the progenitors. 



Those fanciers who are desirous of breeding birds of this 

 variety, fit for any competition, will need to procure a few high- 

 class birds to begin with. The best plan to obtain them is to 

 claim a few good male birds at the Crystal Palace Show at 

 Sydenham, unless you are acquainted \vith any fancier who is 

 reputed for having a good strain, but, even in this case, I should 

 prefer to get the hens from him and claim the male birds as 

 advised. Nottingham was famed for the production of Cin- 

 namon canaries thirty years ago, but latterly Northampton 

 has borne the palm, and perhaps there is no other town in the 

 United Kingdom where so many of these birds are bred (and 

 good ones, too), although it has had to lower it colours to towns' 

 of less importance within the past few years, but, for all that, 



