300 The Canary Book. 



pressed with a flat iron. The colour most admired is dark 

 green, approaching to black. Next to green comes grey or 

 mottled, called by some fanciers "grizzled;" clear crests are 

 held in the least esteem of all, so far as colour becomes a 

 consideration. You cannot get a crest too dark, nor too large, 

 provided it is well-formed and densely packed. The formation 

 of the crest is the chief consideration, next size, and lastly, 

 colour. It is not customary at shows to make separate classes 

 for the different forms of . crests ; all are shown together, and 

 each fancier has his opinion as to which he considers best. 



I know from experience that the most difficult form of crest 

 fco produce in anything like perfection is the shield crest with 

 the hood; and those who have made crested birds their 

 particular study will acknowledge that this is by far the 

 handsomest. 



The Evenly-marked and Crested canaries look best, I always 

 think, when they are not too lightly wing-marked. I prefer 

 a bird with the first six or seven large fligh feathers clear and 

 the remainder dark. The darker and more defined they are, the 

 more valuable the bird possessing them becomes. In a really 

 first-class specimen of this variety none of the wing coverlets or 

 saddle feathers should be dark, only the flights specified and the 

 crest; a mixed wing is a fault, that is, a white feather inter- 

 mixed with the dark ones, and this frequently happens. A self- 

 coloured tail, whether dark or clear, and even a mixed tail, 

 provided the dark feathers are at the outer edges of the tail, 

 and correspond, is admissible, but a clear tail is without doubt 

 most esteemed. A black feather o'r more on one side of the tail 

 only, although the bird has evenly- marked wings, is considered 

 a disqualification in an evenly-marked and crested class, and a 

 bird so marked should be entered in the " unevenly-marked," or 

 " any other variety " class. For my part, and many fanciers are 

 of the same opinion, I should be disposed to admit a bird of this 

 description into the evenly-marked class, and count three points 

 against it for the defect, as it is birds of this stamp that tempt 

 unscrupulous fanciers to tamper with them. 



STANDARDS OP EXCELLENCE. TLe following tables will be 

 found to give accurate estimates of the relative points of merit 



