i88 CANARIES 



£50. This is a record, and I take it that it will be a long 

 time ere we hear of another breeder receiving £150 for a 

 single bird, or £265 for three in one deal. 



High Prices cripple the Fancy. 



High prices are not conducive to the welfare of the 

 Fancy. Quite the reverse. Up to twenty-five years 

 ago the Crest fancy was as much the fancy of the 

 working man as of the rich man, but the fabulous 

 prices which have been paid within the last two de- 

 cades have almost driven the working man out of 

 the Crest fancy, and as a consequence Crest breeders 

 of to-day are not one in fifty compared to the numbers 

 of twenty-five to thirty years ago, whilst the Crested 

 Canary Club has not one-fifth the membership it enjoyed 

 at that time. During the last ten years the competition 

 in the Crested Canary classes at our best shows has been 

 very limited, and we have seen the show of the year 

 with only three and four birds in a class, and some classes 

 even cancelled. Why ? Because all the best birds in the 

 country were in the hands of three or four exhibitors. 

 Men who were simply out to win at all cost, and who 

 purchased every first-class bird that they could. When 

 this happens in any breed that breed soon declines in 

 public favour, and its popularity wanes, as has that of the 

 Crested Canary. 



At the moment there is hope that it may recover. 

 Two or three of these big studs have been dispersed 

 during the last year or two, and at the moment a more 

 sane idea of the value of birds is making its presence felt. 

 More than thirty years ago I was exhibiting Crested 

 Norwich, and in those days it was not at all unusual at 

 our provincial shows to find from twenty to thirty 

 Crests in one class, and sometimes more, and we used to 

 see the same thing at the Crystal Palace, which in those 

 days was the show of the season. 



First Classes for Crest-Breds. 



In the year 1888, on the suggestion of the late John 

 North, of Stockbridge, classes were provided for Crest- 



