THE YORKSHIRE 169 



off the top covering of feathers either on the back or any 

 other part the under feathers will show a Ughter shade of 

 colour. Still the fact was there that many birds were 

 shown that had square-tipped feathers. 



I beheve I was the first judge to detect these square- 

 tipped feathers, and I disqualified a number of exhibits. 

 In the face of the scientific evidence that has since been 

 produced, I am not going to say that square-tipped 

 feathers may not in some cases have been natural, but 

 the curious thing was that these birds which I and other 

 judges disqualified were otherwise most excellent repre- 

 sentatives of the breed. They suddenly made their 

 appearance at a time when competition in Yorkshire Greens 

 was very keen and that after the disqualifications their 

 numbers decreased. In defence of those who exhibited 

 these birds it was urged that a slow moult was the cause. 

 The obvious reply was : Why are Greens only so affected ? 



The Beautiful Even-Marks. 



It is generally agreed amongst canary breeders that 

 the most beautiful of all canaries is a high-class, evenly- 

 marked Yorkshire. Given a bird of good type, rich colour, 

 well-balanced eyes, wing, and tail marking, with the 

 beautiful frosting seen in a high-class Buff, you had a 

 picture which could not be surpassed. Many there are 

 amongst the old breeders who regret that the Even-Marked 

 birds are not now bred for as they used to be, but the faking 

 that used to take place, together with the present system 

 of classification killed them. The birds recognised in the 

 old days were the two-pointed, that is, birds marked 

 on both eyes, both wings, or both sides of the tail, the 

 four-pointed, that which were generally marked on both 

 eyes and both wings ; and the six-pointed, which had 

 both eyes, both wings, and each side of the tail marked. 

 The latter were considered the perfection of marking. 

 Next come the four-pointed. Some consider this bird 

 quite as handsome as the six-pointed, but not being so 

 rare, or quite so difficult to breed, it must be classed as 

 inferior to the bird with tail marks, and given an equality 

 in other points the six-pointed bird will and should beat 

 the four-pointed bird. Next in importance were the 



'Arlington county » ibp^pv 



CLARENDON BRAUCrt 



