CANARIES 221 



seem to have occurred from closely related parents which 

 had been mated for '* double buffing," but whether or not 

 this combination of inbreeding and pale color caused the 

 appearance of an albino is problematical. 



As first produced, the whites were of the common type, 

 and the only object of breeders was to secure purity of color. 

 Now, however, they are being adapted to the standards of 

 various recognized breeds, such as Yorkshires, Norwich and 

 Border Fancies. 



At the exhibition of the London Cage Bird Association, 

 held at the Royal Horticultural Hall, London, in December, 

 1 912, the writer inspected eight lovely White Canaries, the 

 cheapest of which was valued at £10. No specimens of this 

 color have appeared in America at this writing. 



All of the foregoing descriptions refer to birds of solid 

 color : yellows and buffs being known as " clears " and 

 greens and cinnamons as " selfs." Besides these there are 

 various forms of pied birds, which fall into several groups. 

 The ground color of these birds is yellow or buff, with 

 markings of green or cinnamon. A bird which is entirely 

 clear, except for a single small patch, is known as " ticked." 

 A further admixture of light and dark feathers makes what 

 is called a " variegated." The most highly developed of 

 these birds is called the " even-marked." These markings 

 occur in three sections on each side — the eye, wing and tail. 

 The eye mark should be even and rounded in front, just 

 wide enough to encircle the eye, tapering to a point behind. 

 The wing marks are formed by the secondaries, a varying 

 number of which may be colored, so long as no light feathers 

 are interspersed and the two sides are even. The tail marks 

 consist of from one to three dark feathers at the sides of 

 the tail. These last are not of so much importance as the 

 two former, birds with eye and wing marks only being 

 equally popular. Evenly marked Canaries are difficult to 



