The Lizard. 335 



red legs are usually very rich and pure in the ground colour, 

 and clear and well defined in spangling, but they are apt 

 occasionally to throw youngsters with a white feather in the 

 tail or wings, which is very undesirable. Lizards as a rule 

 are quarrelsome and mischievous, especially the males, and 

 cocks of this description should be removed from beside the 

 hens during the period of incubation, or they will probably 

 destroy the eggs or harass the hens until the eggs are addled. 

 I have known one very successful exhibitor, who introduced a 

 cross of the London Fancy among his Lizards, crossing and 

 re-crossing the produce with Lizards again and again for 

 several years, until his birds attained a very high position as 

 prize winners, and at one time he was almost invincible on 

 the show bench. This cross is said to improve the cap and 

 spangles. A London Fancy should be selected with a good 

 skull and cap, and if possible a bird with some vigour of 

 body ; it should be paired with a large strong Lizard, and 

 one deficient to some extent in spangles. In three years, if 

 the produce of the first cross is bred-in with good Lizards, 

 selected with judgment, a marked improvement in the chief 

 characteristics of the birds will be observable, but the result 

 will depend greatly on the birds selected for this purpose. 



The greatest care is needed to prevent the parent birds 

 from plucking their young, as those which have the misfor- 

 tune to get plucked never make such satisfactory show birds 

 as those which are fortunate enough to escape the misfor- 

 tune, and if a tail or a flight feather is withdrawn it is 

 reproduced with a spangle, which counts against the exhibit, 

 If the parents are observed to indulge in this vicious practice 

 it will be best to remove the young birds to a small cage, 

 which can be fixed to the front of the breeding cage, and 

 so arranged that the parents can feed their progeny through 

 the wires. If the breeding cage is wired at the ends as 

 well as the front, it will be found best to fix the cage 

 containing the young birds to one end instead of the front. 



Lizard canaries are very difficult to breed sufficiently good 

 in all points for exhibition purposes, and ^ they occasionally 



