i68 CANARIES 



Select them with dark legs and feet, though if a bird had 

 flesh-coloured legs, but had dark claws, I should not 

 hesitate to use it for stock purposes. These dark toes 

 are a sign of the bird being full of dark or green blood. 

 See that the pencilling is even, and as distinct as 

 possible. I like to see bold and distinct lacing at the 

 sides of waist, both in breeding and exhibition birds. 

 A large percentage of points are allowed in the standard 

 of the Green Canary Club for level, sound, and rich colour 

 with distinct pencilling, and preference is given to birds 

 having dark legs, feet and beaks therefore the importance 

 of paying great attention to this question of colour in the 

 first instance must not be neglected. 



He who intends to make a name for himself as a success- 

 ful breeder of these Greens will have to patiently build 

 a strain of his own that can be depended upon not to throw 

 light throats, waists, vents, or thighs. To do this he 

 must discard all the birds that show these faults or that 

 have a tendency to produce them in their offspring, and 

 must stick to those that are richest and soundest in colour 

 throughout. 



Type and feather will require strict attention, and the 

 same methods that are advised in the breeding of the or- 

 dinary Yorkshire are equally applicable to breeding the 

 Yorkshire Green. 



The Square Feather Bogie. 



At one time there was an occasional disqualification 

 at our shows for birds having what were called square 

 feathers. These feathers were generally found on the 

 shoulders or saddle of the birds, and some judges and 

 exhibitors alleged they were cut for the puipose of throw- 

 ing up the green colour on the back, while others said it 

 was done to get rid of bronze-ended feathers, whilst others 

 suspected it to have been done to clear away a few white- 

 tipped feathers. Perhaps there have been odd cases 

 where feathers have been cut, owing to the presence of 

 either bronze or white feathers ; this I could understand, 

 but the idea of cutting the feathers for the purpose (as 

 some say) of showing up the green colour on the back 

 seems absurd, because most breeders know that if you take 



