194 CANARIES 



matter of mating our stock so as to secure a maximum 

 of those properties which are desired, and a minimum 

 of those which are objectionable. As I have said, double- 

 buffing is generally followed in the breeding of Crests, 

 but it should not be. The orthodox system of pairing 

 yellow to buff will give far more colour, greater quality 

 of feather, smarter carriage, and not a great deal will be 

 lost in size either of skull or body. Frankly our Crests 

 of to-day are abnormal and if a little more attention was 

 paid to shape of body quality of feather, markings, car- 

 riage of wings and tail, and style, our birds would be far 

 more beautiful than they are. When all the value of the 

 breed is placed on one property that breed has taken 

 the first step on the downward path, and it is only a 

 question of time ere it is ranked amongst those breeds 

 that are not popular. 



What the Craze for Crest has done. 



The craze for size of crest has led breeders to leave the 

 study of yellow breeding, also that of markings, and as 

 a consequence for years past the majority of our birds 

 have been greens or very heavily variegated. If it had 

 not been for this we should have had ten times, possibly 

 a hundred times as many more men breeding Crests 

 to-day than we have. How seldom does one see a Clear 

 Body Dark Crest, or an Even-marked. The majority 

 of the breeders of to-day know not how to produce them, 

 and have never tried. It is no easy matter to breed 

 either ; and yet once a strain has been built up, to breed 

 either the difficulty would not be so great. 



It cannot be denied that Crest breeding is one of the 

 most interesting branches of the canary fancy. There 

 is here more scope for the development of individual 

 thought and experiment than there is in either of the other 

 breeds. Take, for instance, the breeding of evenly marked 

 birds. The breeder of the Norwich Plainhead Yorkshire 

 or Border has only to get his markings ; the breeder of 

 the Crest has to get markings and crest. Then again, 

 in breeding clear-bodied birds, the breeder of all other 

 varieties has to simply get his birds clear. The breeder 

 of clear-bodied dark Crests has to get the body of his 



