202 CANARIES 



direction by providing suitable eating and drinking 

 vessels and by seeing that the feeding holes in the cages 

 are of good size. The best of Crests are easily spoiled 

 by a little negligence in this respect. The birds should 

 not be washed more often than is absolutely needful, 

 nor be allowed to use the bath indiscriminately themselves. 

 The perches in their cages should at all times be kept low, 

 or the birds will damage their crests by knocking their 

 heads on the perches and cage tops. 



No matter how good the Crests may be, they need 

 grooming, even those that lie perfectly even on the head, 

 whilst those that are inclined to lift or twist are appreciably 

 improved by being brushed with a badger hair tooth-brush 

 once a day. This brushing trains the feather and keeps 

 it in the direction it should fall, it also keeps it clean, 

 and thus preserves its beauty. Before using the brush 

 it is advisable to dip it in water just to damp it, nothing 

 more. 



The Ideal Crest and Crest-Bred. 



The Crested Canary Club in its standard describes the 

 ideal, but does not allot any given number of points 

 to the different properties as do most of our speciahst 

 clubs. Its standard reads as follows : — 



The Crest. — Size and formation shall be the first con- 

 sideration. A crest cannot be too large. It should 

 consist of an abundance of broad, long, and veiny feathers, 

 evenly radiated from a small centre, well over eyes, beak, 

 and poll. A good crest may be flat if weU filled in at 

 back, and without sphts, but a drooping and weeping 

 crest shall have the preference. 



Type and quaHty are of the next importance. The body 

 should in shape resemble that of the BuUfinch, possessing 

 substance in proportion to its length, with a broad back 

 nicely arched, full and well-circled chest, tail short and 

 narrow, wings not extending beyond root of tail, nor 

 crossed at tips, but fitting close to the body. The neck 

 should be full and the beak short. The bird should stand 

 well across the perch on short legs, with thighs and hocks 

 well set back. 



The Crest-Bred should possess a body as above 

 described. The head should be large and round, broad 



