Rarity of Good Eye- Marks. 121 



evident from the statistics of our largest shows. Take the Crystal Palace exhibition, for instance, 

 and it will be seen that there were in 1877 two hundred and forty-three Clear and Variegated birds 

 staged as against forty-eight Evenly-marked, many of which had only very slight claims to the title^ 

 while some did not belong to the class at all ; and of this small number only thirteen hailed from 

 the city of Norwich itself, which perhaps contains more breeders of the variety bearing its pame 

 than all the towns in England put together, and annually sends to the different markets its 

 thousands of Canaries. Breeders and dealers alike know the value of an Evenly-marked bird too 

 well to allow it to slip through their fingers, and we can only infer that among the hundreds of 

 scores which pass through their hands, not one of which is disposed of without a careful 

 examination if it show even an approximation to a fancier's ideal of perfection, about -ooi of the 

 whole will express the average rate of production of Evenly-marked specimens. We do not mean 

 to say that this is the case everywhere. The bird has of late years grown much in popular favour, 

 and a few breeders have given it their special attention, and have, by care in the selection of their 

 breeding-stock, endeavoured to concentrate in one focus the desired tendency whenever observed, 

 though we do not think the results are as yet so fixed in their character as to warrant our saying 

 that any reliable strain has been established. We do not say this with the intention of disparaging 

 the character of any strain which may be more or less certain in its action, but to disabuse the 

 minds of our readers of the idea that when they see an Evenly-marked Norwich Canary it is the 

 representative of a fixed and distinct variety, and that they have nothing to do but to pair such 

 birds to reproduce them. That this is a widely-extended belief we know, and one which, indulge4 

 in, leads only to disappointment. Better by far acknowledge the difficulty, face it, and endeavour 

 to overcome it, and found your own strain of Evenly-marked birds — a thing which /^aj been done 

 with great success in another variety, to which we shall refer in its place. 



In enunciating a few general principles which must be observed in trying to produce these 

 beautiful birds we must direct the attention of the breeder to the fact that there are some things he 

 wants and must have, and other things he does not want and must endeavour to eradicate. He 

 wants chiefly well-formed and decided eye-marks. Every fancier knows the value of these, though 

 it would be equally correct to say he does not know their value, for their worth cannot be over- 

 estimated. He also wants lightly and exactly-marked wings, and he knows he can breed a hundred 

 good wings for one good eye. If we add a correspondingly exact marking in the tail to the 

 extent of a feather on each side, which, by the way, the bird is as well without, we have indicated 

 the necessaries. Then he does 7tot want and must not, on any account, have any body-marks, 

 which are the great bugbear to be exorcised. The great difficulty, indeed the difficulty, will be in 

 making a beginning, because, select what stock you may and let it look ever so promising, the 

 probability is that unless it really have been bred for some length of time with due regard to the 

 principles of selection and rejection, the offspring will show surprisingly little of the points desired. 

 In commencing, therefore, the first thing we should insist on is that the birds chosen should be 

 entirely free from body-marks of any kind, because when it is remembered how intimately these 

 are connected with irregular variegation, liable at any time to make its appearance in the most 

 provoking way, it will be plain that any trace of this should be studiously eschewed. The 

 accompaniments of this sort of thing, also, and the indications of its presence not far beneath the 

 surface, such as any considerable amount of dark flue, dark legs, or dark beak, must be con- 

 sidered as dangerous concomitants to an otherwise promising-looking bird, and will represent 

 shoals and quicksands the dangers of which will be patent to those who have read carefully 

 our remarks on development of clear colour from the normal green. Fully satisfied as we 

 are, both from practical experience and extensive observation, that our theory on this point i§ 

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