96 Calvaries and Cage-Birds. 



the Jonque really seems to be one form of what we have designated Green. It is the fact that in 

 some parts of the bird the gradation is so delicate that the edge of the green merges in that of the 

 jonque, and it cannot be discerned where the one leaves off and the other begins. This is most 

 noticeable in the region of the "waist," among the soft, silky feathers of the sides and vent, where 

 some of the richest combinations of hues are to be found. We do not yet know what is the precise 

 character of the pigment matter in the cells of the feather formation, but we must observe, as 

 having much to do with the colour question generally, that the Greens are the strongest as regards 

 colour, and have the greatest power of developing or depositing it — a physiological property that 

 breeders are not slow to acknowledge and avail themselves of, by having frequent recourse to 

 the Green as a source from whence to derive fresh vigour and colour-producing power. The first 

 remove from the green always produces the strongest jonque wherever the jonque shows itself; and 

 so it is throughout the whole scale — so long as there is the vestige of a green feather, or even the 

 dark under-flue attaching to it, it is the evidence of a colour-producing power the Clear bird has 

 not. Remember that the direction in which the breeder travels is from dark to light, and a clear 

 bird once produced is the culminating point. Continue the diluting process, and colour recedes; 

 and we must go to our colour-box for a fresh supply. This is the enunciation of a recognised 

 principle in breeding to which we shall hereafter refer. 



We resume our classification, and remark that the introduction and maintaining of the Green 

 element have produced Pied birds, and this immediately opens up a field for the fancier, in the 

 form of a desire to fix this Pied character in certain directions and render it permanent — a task of 

 great difficulty. It is easy to account for this if we regard the Pied or Variegated bird as being in 

 a transition state, somewhere on its journey from a dark self-colour, with feathers dark in stalk, 

 flue, and web, toAvards the ultima thide of the fancier — the Clear bird, with spotless feather and 

 snowy white under-flue. Any exactness or regularity of marking which may appear can, therefore, 

 only be regarded as a fleeting beauty, difficult to arrest and invest with the character of perpetuity. 

 It is by no means an hereditary quality, and the aphorism " Like produces like " is here applicable 

 only to a very limited extent. Well-marked birds are so exceptional that the element of chance 

 should enter largely into the theories for producing them ; and we think that nothing shows the 

 utter fallaciousness of such theories so much as the fact that the end to which they profess to open 

 out a royal road is not reached by travelling in it. There is a class of men, however, who are 

 always doing wonders. Breeding birds marked feather for feather with mathematical exactness is 

 child's play to them ; only the disappointing part of the business is that the world never sees 

 them — they invariably die in the nest. 



What constitutes a " Marked " bird, and what is the difference between it and a 

 " Variegated " bird 1 It is manifest that any Pied Canary is Variegated, and therefore what 

 is known as a " Marked " bird is as much a Variegated bird as any other. The literal 

 meaning must, it is evident, be discarded at once, and the terms regarded as technicalities, 

 viewed in which light the matter is simple enough. There are certain places on the body of a 

 bird in which the original dark colour seems to love to linger. In some places we often wish it 

 would not stay, and vexing is the pertinacity with which it maintains its hold. But the last 

 resting-place seems to be on the eyes, the wings, and each side of the tail. These marks most 

 frequently appear in company with many others, but they are there ; and as the objectionable 

 patches or blotches disappear, either by careful breeding or in obedience to chance, the eye, wing, 

 and tail marks remain. These, and these only, are technically marks, and a bird is two, four, or 

 six-marked, according as he possesses each or every pair. Such a bird is a " Marked " bird proper, 

 and any bird which is marked in any otlier place than those indicated is a " Variegated " bird, even 



