190 CANARIES 



" Sunshine " cost Mr. Bastock ^^15, and that was a big 

 price in those days — in fact a record. It's a far cry from 

 ^15 to £150 which I have mentioned. 



The lovely Yellows. 



Years ago, as will be seen by the figures I have given, 

 Yellows were almost as plentiful as the Buffs, but as the 

 rage for the big Crests increased double-buffing was 

 practised continuously, and the Yellows have almost 

 disappeared. The judges were to blame, because at the 

 smaller shows in which Yellows and Buffs had to compete 

 together they went all out for size of Crest, and the Yel- 

 lows got crowded out until breeders in despair gave up 

 trying to breed them. It was a great pity. For real 

 beauty there is nothing to compare to a well-balanced 

 Evenly-marked Yellow Crested Norwich. Nottingham 

 was a town in Crest circles years ago, and it turned out 

 more high-class Yellows than any other centre of the 

 fancy, not even excepting Norwich, which, also upheld 

 the Yellow strongly. Shall we ever see the Yellow in a 

 strong position again ? I fear it is too much to hope we 

 shall. But, if not, why not ? Once we get the Crest fancy 

 running on more normal lines then the Yellows will 

 come back. By this I mean when real love of the Crested 

 Canary and not £ s. d. rules the fancy. 



One Point Judging Has Done. 



Before we go farther we will consider what are the 

 properties which go to make up a first-class exhibition 

 Crested Norwich. It was in 1883 at Yeovil Show the 

 late W. A. Blakston, discussing with myself my own 

 exhibits at the show as well as others, said in reply to a 

 remark I made in reference to one of my exhibits being 

 rather Coppy-tailed : — " We don't bother about that end. 

 It's the other end that counts." That was true then, 

 even as it is true to-day, and in that has been the set- 

 back of the Crest fancy. Head ! Head ! ! This has 

 been the cry of judges and exhibitors, until we have 

 had birds that required a nurse in constant attention 



