344 The Canary Book. 



years, he could hardly have been distinguished from a London 

 Fancy bird at the age of six years; his ground colour was 

 almost clear, and he looked as if he had been slightly dredged 

 over with black pepper. These facts, I submit, speak volumes 

 in support of the idea I entertain in regard to the origin of 

 this wonderful and elegant variety of canary the true London 

 Fancy. No doubt it required years of study and judicious 

 crossing to bring them to perfection. 



Were I a regular breeder of this variety of birds, I would not 

 hesitate to cross them with a Lizard canary occasionally, say, 

 once in five or seven years ; if this is not done, I am afraid that 

 the days of these lovely gems are numbered, and that they 

 will soon become extinct, for already the in-and-in breeding is 

 telling with painful effect upon their constitutions; in fact, to 

 quote the exact words of an old fancier, addressed to me, in 

 reference to that variety, not long ago, "I would not bother 

 with them; they are all as rotten as blown pears" (from in- 

 and-in breeding). 



On July 19th, 1889, an illustration of a bird of this variety was 

 given in a London journal, Poultry, and a very good and even 

 elegant specimen it was ; and singular to relate, the bird figured 

 had been bred from a pair of well-bred Lizard canaries, by 

 Mr. J. Green, of Leigh, in Lancashire. The father was a Golden 

 spangled bird, the winner of a first prize in a large class at 

 Manchester, and from a thoroughly reliable strain of well-bred 

 Lizards. The mother was a Silver, bred from a celebrated 

 pure strain. This incident goes far to corroborate my theory- 

 for I think I was the first to propound it in the first edition 

 of this work that the London Fancy is an off-shoot from the 

 Lizard canary. I said that I thought the London Fancy canary 

 was bred between the Lizard and Norwich Fancy canary, 

 or between a Lizard and a Cinnamon variegated bird. J 

 am morally certain that it was originally produced by one 

 or other of these crosses, and this, no doubt, will account in 

 a great measure for the difficulty that has always been ex- 

 perienced since I can remember them, for a period of thirty- 

 six years at least in obtaining specimens free from patches of 



