THE YORKSHIRE 159 



aud also of silkiness or quality of feather, and for, this reason 

 is it to be condemned. The green blood is the fountain of 

 colour, therefore those who are wise keep plenty of green 

 blood or variegation in their breeding stock, and mate 

 clear or ticked birds with those that are variegated. 



I do not advise the pairing of two clears together, 

 as by the continual use of variegation on one or both sides 

 of a pair one is able to obtain birds of good sound colour, 

 and to maintain that colour indefinitely without getting 

 too many heavily variegated birds which the frequent 

 introduction of self-coloured birds is liable to produce. 



Breeding for Marked Birds. 



In breeding for marked birds, whether cinnamon or 

 green-marked, pair a full-marked bird to a clear. By a full- 

 marked bird I mean a bird practically four-marked or 

 over, and if you have not a clear to mate with it I should 

 prefer to have one marked on eyes to being marked 

 elsewhere. If I have a preference in regard to which bird 

 of a pair should be the marked bird, I should prefer it 

 being the cock, but the results are much the same which- 

 ever parent carries the markings. Some say you will get 

 good results from pairing two well-marked birds together, 

 but this is a course I should not follow. You may get a 

 good-marked bird this way, but the chances are not more 

 favourable than the way I have suggested. Of one thing 

 you certainly can be sure about, and that is you will get 

 a fair percentage of rubbish in the way of heavily varie- 

 gated birds. I always try to match my birds to breed 

 youngsters on the light side in markings, believing that 

 there is the same chance of getting well-marked birds 

 as by any other way. 



Pedigree has much to do with the production of marking, 

 and in breeding for marked birds the value of a good 

 and reliable strain is perhaps as much in evidence as in 

 breeding for any particular point connected with cage 

 bird breeding, as some birds of a proved strain seldom 

 fail to throw one or more fairly-well marked birds in 

 every nest, no matter how they are mated, provided their 

 mates are from the same strain. You must not cross 

 strains if you are breeding for markings. This rule must 



