26 CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



The colors of the Scotch Fancy are a secondary consideration, and not brilliant, 

 like those of the previous classes. The Scotch breeder seems content to obtain per- 

 fection in shape, and let his English neighbors bear off the palm in the color-line. 

 The colors are the same as those observed in the common breed of Canaries, ran- 

 ging from the clear green to the pale yellow, or mealy. The Scotch Fancies, like the 

 Belgian pure breeds, have no crested birds among them. To the superiority of 

 the female Scotch Fancy birds, the breeders do not pay so much attention. Of 

 course, a high class of birds must be used in breeding ; but all the minute points are 

 developed in the males. 



The bird-shows held in Scotland are even more elaborate than those of Belgium, 

 the task of the judges being more severe ; and the amount of handling and judging 

 which a prize-winner is obliged to undergo is something amazing. The worthy 

 judges, too, deserve a word of mention. A pure labor of love with them is this 

 task of handling and testing some eight hundred cases ; and the amount of skill 

 required in properly giving every bird his exact dues would put one of our high- 

 priced modern court judges into college again in order to learn his lessons over. 



The Yorkshire Canary is another edition of the birds bred for shape and size : 

 and, as the angular and curved editions are provided for, it is no more than proper 

 that a class of admirers should be found for something in the line of straight birds. 

 The Yorkshire is the class which depends for his beauty on the straightness of the 

 lines of his body, the compactness of his build, and fineness of his feathers com- 

 bined. The Yorkshire, like the Scotch Fancy, is supposed to be an offspring of the 

 Belgian. The head of the Belgian bird, if placed in an upright position, and not 

 hung down as though ashamed of himself, forms the main line of beauty in the 

 Yorkshire Canary. A line drawn from the top of the head to the tip of the tail 

 should be a perfectly straight one, the body should be slender and elegant in 

 appearance, the feathers as compactly arranged as those of a duck, and their 

 texture of the finest quality. These form the main points in the Yorkshire Cana- 

 ry's excellence. He is a larger bird than the Norwich, being from six inches and 

 a half to seven inches in length. No particular attention is paid to the colors ; 

 although they are usually of a deeper shade than those of the common Canary, 

 and may be clear or mottled. The Yorkshire bird is never bred in the crested 

 class. 



The giant in the English class, and, in fact, of the Canary race, is the Manchester 

 Coppy, a bird remarkable for the size of both its body and crest. This class 

 of birds is bred almost exclusively in the manufacturing districts around the city of 

 Manchester, from which the bird derives his name. Wherever seen, this class is 

 always admired for its noble proportions and majestic bearing. A startled beholder, 

 on first seeing one, said that "he looks more like a yellow Pigeon than a Canary- 

 bird." His pedigree cannot be certainly traced ; but it is most probably of the ancient 

 Dutch order, which is always a respectable and sure covering for any thing of 

 doubtful origin. The breed of the bird is most jealously guarded in the districts 

 from which he originally appeared, and no other foreign strains or crosses are 

 allowed to be crossed with him. The word "Coppy," which is also a part of the 

 bird's name, signifies crest, or topping an ornament with which the birds are, as a 

 rule, decorated. The largest birds of this class often measure eight inches in 



