CHAPTER XVIII. 

 THE LIZARD CANARY. 



We enter now on a description of the birds included in the second of the two groups in which we 

 have arranged the Canary family — viz., those having a Distinctive Plumage, which we define to mean 

 a fixed, distinctive character of feather, as opposed to the one simple notion embodied in the idea of 

 colour. To this group belong the Lizard and London Fancy — tribes most probably intimately 

 related. Which of the two is the elder we will not pretend to determine ; and it is by many 

 considered an open question whether the Lizard is an offshoot or a cultivated form of the London 

 Fancy, or whether it is the parent of a bird known to have been in existence at least a century ago, 

 and for which its admirers claim an ancestry exceedingly remote. It is said that the Chinese, in 

 drawing out their chronological tree to show the antiquity of their nation, after descending through 

 many ages, a few more or less being of no moment, arrive at a period concerning which they say 

 that " the English and other barbarians have a tradition that about this time the world was 

 created ; " and far back in the olden time, in the early history of the London Fancy, we believe 

 there is to be found in its unpublished archives a similar legend that "about this time common 

 Canaries were introduced into England," which is a sad let-down for the Lizard family, who appear 

 to possess neither a written nor a traditionary history. We propose a compromise in this case, and 

 suggest the possibility of each being as old as the other, though, if we have any leaning, it is in 

 favour of the Lizard, which we think, from sundry features in its character, presents indications in 

 harmony with the laws of development seeming to point to the fact of its being the parent stem 

 rather than an offshoot. We shall not pursue this question further at present, but will enter into it 

 more fully in our remarks on the London Fancy and its probable connection with the bird under 

 review. 



We do not know that it is incumbent on us to trace out the origin of every Canary we have to 

 do with, any more than it is necessary to account for each one of our many varieties of pigeons or 

 domestic poultry ; and the difficulty is increased when we can find no trace of a history to deal 

 with, but must confine ourselves to speculative theory. Most probably the Lizard was born of a 

 desire to develop to its fullest extent a description of feather-marking more or less common to 

 nearly every dark Self-coloured Canary, and which bears the name of spangling — a form of feather 

 not entirely absent even in some Clear birds, in which it may be traced in a rudimentary shape. 

 This fact alone is evidence of its fixity, while the highest examples of its cultivated development 

 show what it is possible to do in any one direction by careful and long-continued gathering up of 

 impelling forces which, when united, are powerful and constant in their action. This spangled form 

 of feather early attracted attention, and even in its imperfect embryo state seems to have been 

 regarded as a feature worth encouraging. The old volume we have previously quoted from in 

 our notes on the Cinnamon says : — 



"The Fine Spangled Sort, commonly called, 

 French Canary Birds, and the Alealy Ones, are 

 the Best to Breed with, for Those, who are very 

 Curious. 



