Points of the NoRivicTi Canary. 93 



throughout the whole of this part being of the closest possible character, compactness and perfect 

 imbrication being the most necessary conditions for the exhibition of colour. The rump-feathers 

 are the finest and most silky in quality in the entire bird, and as they merge in the upper tail- 

 coverts become longer and narrower, the greater portion of their length being clothed with snowy 

 white flossy under-flue. Any coarseness here, or' in the vent-feathers and under tail-coverts, is a 

 blemish interfering with the gradual tapering which constitutes what is known in the Fancy as a 

 neat " waist," and is one of the properties it is necessary to breed out of any cross which may have 

 been made with a view to obtain size, which it usually accompanies. It is the presence or absence 

 of this coarseness and want of general compactness which indicates the possession or lack of 

 "quality" — a term almost undefinable, and applied to individual parts or to a balance of 

 good properties considered as a whole. The shape of the individual tail-feathers — i.e., narrow at 

 their base and slightly increasing in width in the direction of their length, the outer ones being 

 the longest, and each- of the six on either side gradually decreasing in length — will, of itself, 

 determine the correct shape of the tail, which cannot better be described than by comparing it 

 with a closed fan, narrow at the junction with the body, and slightly, but very slightly, radiating, 

 the lengths and arrangement of the feathers causing a V-shaped indentation at the extremity, 

 Here, as in the wing, carriage is everything, the closed fan showing the gilt edges as one feather 

 but when partially spread spoiling the effect. 



The only remaining parts of the body covered with feather growth are the thighs, which 

 should be well covered with silky flue right down to the hocks. The legs, which Nature generally 

 makes of a proportionate length, should be free from malformation or defects of any kind, even 

 to the toes and claws. It is scarcely necessary to mention a matter of this kind ; and the points, 

 as described in several printed standards, "toes and nails entire and not twisted awry," always 

 seem to us like superfluous definitions. Malformations are malformations wherever we find them, 

 and it seems absurd to point them out as things not to be desired in a perfect specimen. 



In summing up the whole under the head of general appearance, we should say the Norwich 

 Canary is a jolly, comfortable sort of bird, rather than one of the extreme graceful school, and 

 that the hens are inclined to evibonpoint rather than belonging to the family of Sylphidce. It is 

 not a large bird, though size has its value when combined with colour and quality displayed in 

 excess — a combination very rare. Size has its proper value in every variety, but where it is not 

 the property it has had to give way before the particular feature sought ; and where that feature 

 is found to develop itself prominently in any specimens, they are sure to be selected for future 

 breeding operations, whatever other minor properties, even though they may be desirable ones, are 

 absent ; and hence size has, no doubt, been over and over again relinquished in favour of the two 

 sine qua non properties mentioned above. It is a fact that the gems of the variety are almost 

 invariably of a medium size, and there seems to be a point beyond which it appears impossible to 

 go in attempting to unite the three. Still, some breeders have made strenuous efforts to do so, 

 though with only partial success, and have only desisted when they found that their birds, though 

 grand and imposing, were palpably deficient in the more valuable points. Other things being 

 equal, the larger of two birds wins ; but in the struggle for size, it is evident the chances of other 

 things being 2/«-equal are greatly increased. This view of the question will hardly admit of the 

 supposition that size is a property which has been lost and might be regained, since it rather goes 

 to show that the extreme development of colour and quality of feather have only been brought 

 about by a compulsory relinquishing of size, which experience has shown to be incompatible with 

 their existence. If it could be found co-existent with them, it would be of great value; but where 

 it is evident it has been imported at the expense of leading features, it is altogether ignored. 



