212 CANARIES 



either clear or lightly marked. Buff-marked cocks with 

 yellow lightly marked hens often throw most magnifi- 

 cent birds, so far as colour and quaUty is concerned, and 

 that without any loss of type or size. But as a general 

 rule colour is more advanced when yellow variegated cocks 

 and lightly marked buff hens are mated together. 



What is a Ticked Bird ? 



This used to be a fairly simple proposition. To-day it 

 is not. We have no definite rule. Some clubs say " a 

 tick is a mark that may be covered by a threepenny 

 piece," others say a sixpenny piece. Many years ago, 

 the classes used to read, " Ticked, Marked, or Variegated." 

 In these classes were generally to be found three or four, 

 and sometimes more, evenly marked birds. These used 

 nine times out of ten to secure the premier positions, 

 because the judges, knowing the difficulty of producing 

 even marks, used to give such birds a bit in type com- 

 pared with the ticked or unevenly marked birds. Then 

 for some years the schedules read " Ticked, or unevenly- 

 marked," which shunted the evenly marked birds to the 

 A.O.V. As a result, the breeding of evenly-marked 

 birds has become almost a lost art. 



A well-balanced four-pointed buff Norwich is one of the 

 handsomest birds we have, and it has been a matter of deep 

 regret to me to watch the gradual decline in popularity of 

 such a charming feUow. Nowadays we get " Lightly 

 Variegated " and " Heavily Variegated " classes. In 

 other branches of the fancy, the chief aim of specialist 

 clubs is to raise the varieties which are weak. In the 

 cage-bird fancy an opposite policy seems to prevail. 

 The Norwich Plainhead Club has been many years in 

 existence, but has never done anything to encourage 

 the breeding of the most beautiful members of the Norwich 

 fancy — the four and six-pointed birds. 



Breeding for Markings. 



In a general way the Norwich breeder of to-day troubles 

 little about the markings. This is a mistake. When one 



