CHAPTER XVII 



THE BORDER FANCY 



The Pigmy of the Canary Race. 



When I first became acquainted with the Canary fancy 

 the bird now known as the Border Fancy was unknown. 

 It was not recognised in the shows of that time, and had 

 no place in the writings of the authors who then wrote 

 for the fancy. I beheve I was the first author to give 

 it a place in the literature of the fancy. My little book, 

 " The British Canary," published in 1889, contained a 

 chapter on the breed as it was then, and had been for a 

 few years, known — the Cumberland Fancy. 



Classes used to be given at some of the shows in Cum- 

 berland, Westmorland, Devon, Wales, and the South of 

 Scotland for " Common Canaries," and they were filled 

 with birds of no distinctive type, the prizes usually being 

 awarded to those that were the closest in feather and had 

 most colour. 



Towards the close of the 'eighties the men of Cumberland 

 began calling the birds by the name of their county, and 

 I was asked to assist in framing a standard, which I did. 

 When the Southern Scots saw the Cumberland men 

 forging ahead in this manner they declared war, and there 

 was great controversy over the matter. The Scottish 

 breeders said the Cumberland worthies had no right to 

 claim the bird as their own, it was equally popular in the 

 South of Scotland. It fell to my lot, as Cage Bird editor 

 of the paper which then catered for the canary fancy, 

 to guide this controversy somewhat. Eventually agree- 

 ment was reached, and in the month of July, 1890, peace 

 was declared and an agreement reached that henceforth 

 the breed should be known as — the Border Fancy. 



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