CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE MODERN PLAIN-HEAD NORWICH. 



As prognosticated by me in the last edition of this book, 

 a great and marked change has taken place in the style and 

 type of this variety of canary. 



Owing to the introduction of cayenne and other ingredients 

 for producing deep, bright colour (which is regarded as the 

 chief feature in this class of birds), the original small, active, 

 dapper little Norwich bird of former days, famed for its rich, 

 natural mellow colours, its lovely silky feathers, its close- 

 fitting coat, and clean-cut appearance and active movements, 

 has now been superseded by a larger, more heavily feathered 

 and bulky bird, created between the bird last described and the 

 Yorkshire and Lancashire varieties mixed, to obtain greater 

 length and substance of body. A great deal has been written 

 and said on this subject by many of the leading fanciers of this 

 variety. In 1890 a conference on the subject was held at the 

 Crystal Palace Show, and a meeting formed of some of the 

 principal exhibitors, dealers, general fanciers, amateurs, and 

 judges, and a standard to breed to was agreed upon. The 

 birds, according to this, should be thick and cobby in shape, 

 and should measure so much as six-and-a-half inches in length 

 whereas the old style used to measure from five-and-a-quarter 

 to five-and-three-quarter inches, and an inch added to the 

 length of a bird is equal to twelve inches added to the height 

 of a man; so the plain-head Norwich are enlarged almost 

 beyond recognition. Of course, to obtain this style of bird 



