The Modern Plain-head Norwich. 309 



the type is considerably altered owing to the infusion of so 

 much foreign blood the beautiful rich, natural colour and 

 silkiness of feather are considerably sacrificed. But for the 

 use of condiments to produce the required colour no such 

 change would have been tolerated, so that it is doubtful 

 whether the discovery of this method of obtaining artificial 

 colour is of any benefit whatever to bird fanciers generally. 



I think that six inches should have been the utmost limit 

 allowed to birds of this variety, and if the same free license 

 is continued to be allowed to breeders, it will soon become a 

 difficult matter not only for amateurs, but even for judges, 

 to distinguish the plain-head from the crested-bred, and, in 

 some cases, these latter from thick-set Yorkshire birds. It is 

 a great mistake, in my opinion, to bring the type of these 

 varieties so closely together. Of course, we know that a 

 Yorkshire bird should be slimmer, lighter, more graceful, and 

 more erect than a Norwich bird, and that a crest-bred should 

 be fuller in the head and body, and have the overhanging 

 eyebrows which, in a plain-head, would be esteemed a fault; 

 but according to the present method of producing these 

 varieties, a plain-head Norwich is often difficult to distin- 

 guish from a small Yorkshire bird, and another, probably 

 out of the same nest, may just as nearly resemble a crest- 

 bred ; and if this tendency to increase the size in these 

 varieties is cherished, I contend that in a short time it will 

 be possible to breed specimens of Norwich plain-heads, crest- 

 bred plain-heads, and Yorkshires, from the same pair of 

 birds. This possibility, in my opinion, ought not to exist; 

 but since the rage for large birds has become a craze of 

 the present generation of fanciers, and many of the most 

 attractive qualities are more or less ignored, I fear that in 

 a short time we shall entirely lose some of the best features 

 of the old and beautiful bird which so greatly charmed our 

 predecessors. 



The question may some day be asked, who is to blame for 

 these tilings ? My answer would be, the judges. These are 

 the men who ought to lead and guide exhibitors, instead 



