THE CRESTED NORWICH 195 



birds perfectly clear, yet, while doing this, he has to keep 

 the crest as dark as possible. It will at once be seen that 

 breeding Crests is not quite so easy as breeding Plainhead 

 Norwich or Yorkshires. 



Breeding for Clear Body Dark Crests. 



To produce a strain of birds that would throw Clear 

 Body Dark Crests one should mate up two or three 

 pairs, say a Clear or Grey Crest to a Crest-bred with a 

 dark cap, and a clear body, or one with a clear body and 

 lightly marked wing. Another pair might be a Clear 

 Crest-bred, and a wing marked or Clear Body Dark 

 Crest. The chief thing to avoid would be birds on either 

 side with variegation about the eyes, neck and shoulders, 

 A few years' careful selective breeding would give one a 

 stud that might be relied upon to breed Clear Body Dark 

 Crests with reasonable frequency. The difficulty is to 

 breed the body absolutely clear and the crest dark. 

 The old breeders used to do it, and the men of to-day 

 could if they would. Size of crest would be lost, but what 

 of that ? A smart, styHsh, Clear Body Dark Crest with 

 neat wings and tail, close body feather of high quality 

 is a far more handsome bird than a slack-feathered striking 

 Green that has only size of crest to recommend it. 



In breeding for the Clear Body Dark Crests there 

 would come some of those handsome Clear and Grey 

 Crests which used to be so numerous, and which were 

 generally admired. To-day one seldom sees such a bird. 

 In the old days the Light Crests invariably carried heavier 

 and better-shaped Crests than did the marked and varie- 

 gated birds. I have recollection of some magnificent 

 Light Crests shown by Miss Howison, of Cheltenham, 

 Messrs. Tom King (Cheltenham), C. L. Quinton (Yar- 

 mouth), J. H. Scothern (Nottingham), H. Spelman, 

 J. Gowing, H. Frost, J. Howard and the famous Mackley 

 Bros. (Norwich), G. E. Russell (Brierley Hill), J. North 

 (Stockbridge), Kent and Langman (Plymouth), T. Heath 

 (London), and others. 



Those Beautiful Even-Marked Darks. 



In the olden days when fanciers bred for markings 

 what glorious birds we used to see. Foster, of Ports- 



