119 



CHAPTER XIV. 



BREEDING MARKED NORWICH. 



It was scarcely to be expected that the disposition to sport or break into varied forms of marking 

 should not have arrested the fancier's attention, and that some particular form should not have been 

 fixed on as being the most beautiful as well as the most difficult to obtain. This has been the case 

 with the Evenly-marked birds of the Norwich variety, the points of which we described in our remarks 

 on classification. Our object now is to endeavour to show how to produce them; and we think that 

 the last four words will excite the interest of some breeders as much or more than as many folios 

 may others. How to breed Evenly-marked birds. A few considerations will show that there is a 

 great deal attached to the how, and that it does not resolve itself into such a simple matter as many 

 may have imagined who have embarked in the pursuit and found the object desired apparently 

 unattainable, a kind of igjiis fatinis luring them on to perpetual disappointment and despair. If 

 those who contemplate entering this field would just consider what it is they are going to do, the 

 probability is that they would exercise greater caution in taking the Hrst steps, would make each 

 step secure before they took a second, and, recognising the difficulties of the way, would be less 

 sanguine as to immediate results but more hopeful as to ultimate success. We are afraid we shall 

 offer a rude shock to the ideas of some of our readers when we say that we know of no established 

 strain of Evenly-marked Norwich Canaries, and unhesitatingly affirm our opinion that, so far from 

 its being a fixed "variety," it has in this day, 1877, no existence beyond the few-and-far-between 

 specimens which make their way into our shows ; and how few, and how far between, and how far 

 remote some at least are from being what they are represented to be, those only know who 

 have frequent opportunity of examination. We can assure our readers that the small number 

 which do appear in the category " Evenly-marked " will bear a liberal discounting, even though 

 it cast a reflection on the exhibition morality of the day. The truth is not always pleasant, 

 but we should only mislead if we said other than that, in the Norwich variety, even-marking is 

 exceptionally rare, is not the permanent feature of an established strain, and that the breeder must 

 not for one moment expect to pair these birds, in the belief that like will produce like — an 

 excellent maxim in its way, but one whrch every one who has tried to breed Evenly-marked 

 Norwich Canaries will say has little or no existence in his experience. Let the breeder rather 

 enter on his task with the idea that he is going to make an attempt to arrest a very erratic beauty 

 — one seldom found, and, when found, requiring very careful handling, despite which it is as likely 

 as not to make its escape temporarily, if not altogether. And what is this beauty } In itself 

 it is nothing extraordinary, being simply the dark pencilling encircling the eye, a description of 

 marking common to many foreign finches, and which we think is perhaps the counterpart of a 

 somewhat similar feature native to the wild Canary. This may or may not be so, but it is worthy 

 of note that when the domesticated bird has lost every other trace of dark plumage, here it 

 seems frequently to linger, as if it were hard to entirely eradicate this old family mark. 



These eye-stripes are referred to in the Editor's Introduction to the " Book of Birds " from 

 the text of Dr. Brehm. "There are many birds which have stripes of variously coloured feathers 

 situated above, before, and behind the eye ; while others sometimes occur at the base of the lower 



