2o6 CANARIES 



short and cobby as the Prescot birds. This bird set the 

 fashion of big Norwich in the south, and we have 

 had them ever since. 



It was this bird which roused the ire of the men of 

 Norwich, and led up to the great Conference which was 

 held at the Crystal Palace two years later. It was then 

 decided that the Norwich Plainhead should not be more 

 than 6| inches in length. 



Norwich then was the stronghold of the breed bearing 

 its name, but other towns were running it hard ; Plymouth, 

 Nottingham, Northampton, Coventry, Leicester, Welling- 

 borough and London had hosts of Norwich breeders at 

 that time. To-day the city of Norwich is a back number 

 so far as the fancy is concerned, and quite recently one 

 of the most prominent dealers in London, a Norwich-bred 

 man, and the holder of an illustrious name in the annals 

 of the fancy in Norwich, told me that he now bought but 

 one Norwich in Norwich to every hundred he bought 

 elsewhere. 



Points of the Modern Plainhead Norwich. 



Before we go further let us consider what is asked for 

 in the ideal Norwich of to-day. The head should be very 

 thick and chubby, presenting an appearance of roundness 

 even though it be not perfectly round. There must be 

 no flatness about either front, top, sides, or back. It 

 should rise gracefully from the base of the beak, and fall 

 away into the neck at its junction with the base of the 

 skull ; the face should also be chubby, hollow or flat 

 cheeks are altogether wrong. Viewed from the front, 

 back, or in profile, the head should have the appearance 

 of roundness ; there must be no angularity an3rwhere, 

 no flatness of skull, and no overhanging eyebrows. In 

 front and at the back, too, it should be wide and stout. 

 The eye should be bold and set in a line with the beak, 

 it should be nearly in the centre of the head, not quite in 

 the centre, or the bird wiU look too marble-headed, and 

 that is not symmetrical, nor pleasing to the eye. The 

 eye should be set just a trifle nearer to the beak than to 

 the back of the skull. The beak must be short and neat, 

 not too fine nor too stout. A beak which is too fine 



