THE LONDON FANCY 239 



Canary, with a fancy hen, will give you various dark 

 birds ; some will be all dark, and make fine birds for 

 song. To produce the cinnamon colour, get a strong 

 grey or green-coloured Canary, and put him with a clear 

 mealy or yellow-coloured hen. There is a lighter hue 

 produced, called Quakers, but they are not admired, 

 though lately they have been improved by matching a 

 clear greenish-coloured cock and a quaker-coloured hen 

 together, which produces a dove-coloured feather, and 

 takes the name of the Dove Canary. And to produce 

 white or flaxened-coloured birds follow up three or four 

 seasons the lightest-coloured mealies you can together, 

 and they become white ; then pairing one of those white, 

 or flaxen-coloured Canaries, with one with red eyes, will 

 give you another variety. 



" On these examples and observations depends your 

 producing a fine breed ; and in this art, as with most 

 others, experience will teach you more than books. 

 Match your birds well in opposition ; pay attention to 

 cap, tail, and wings being regularly marked ; put a 

 strong jonque with a fine mealy hen, and vice versa. 



"It is by this method that the Canary Finch has 

 been brought to that state of regularity in feather and 

 height of orange colour. 



" Canary Bird Societies. 



" Many of my readers may not have heard of Canary 

 Finch Societies in London, wherefore it may not be amiss 

 to give some little account of them. 



" Some of these societies have their shows at the 

 British Coffee House, Cockspur Street ; the Freemasons' 

 Tavern, Great Queen Street ; the Gray's Inn Coffee 

 House ; the Percy Coffee House, Rathbone Place ; the 

 Sadlers' Arms, Swallow Street, Regent's Quadrant ; 

 the Vernon Arms, North Audley Street ; the Red Lion, 

 Old Cavendish Street ; the Fox, Duke Street, Bloomsbury, 

 etc. 



" These societies consist of from twelve to eighteen 

 members ; the laws they are regulated by, and the fines 

 imposed, are various. Each member, on entrance, 

 puts up two or three pairs of fancy-bred Canaries, with a 



