242 CANARIES 



off clean, and in full feather and colour ; it does not 

 signify whether it be the first, second, or third nest, so 

 long as it is that season's produce. Frequently, owing 

 to a cold and backward spring, you will not be able to 

 get your third nest early enough ; when this is the case, 

 to enable them to bring them forward for show, amateurs 

 use stock cages, to promote and force the first partial 

 moult. This causes the birds to be very delicate and 

 tender, wherefore you must be careful of their taking cold. 

 Two or three days previous to the show day, the young 

 birds should be washed by a tender, skilful hand, to 

 produce the clearest orange colour the feathers can 

 display. Some persons wash them over several times 

 with water strongly impregnated with saffron, to give 

 the feathers a strong orange colour ; an artifice not, 

 however, allowed by the societies if detected." 



About a dozen years ago breeders of the London Fancy 

 were known in London, Lancashire, Leicestershire, 

 Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Kent, 

 and away in far Ross-shire, but since the Great War little 

 has been heard of the London Fancy. It is a great pity 

 that so beautiful a bird has been lost to our shows. 



