Changes in Moulting. 177 



space than the second could climb, and would ultimately lose more of its original character and 

 approach more nearly the level of the second than would the second be able to do in an opposite 

 direction by any latent energy. One of the oldest breeders of the variety in the country says : — 

 " I think that it would take a very long time to develop a London Fancy bird from a Lizard, as 

 it took me more than twenty years to breed out the spangles on the back which were common with 

 these birds thirty years ago, and I cannot see that any cross with other breeds would help the 

 matter. But, on the other hand, one cannot help fancying that the intermixture of a London 

 Fancy bird with a green, or even a wild bird, might produce something very like a Lizard, though 

 certainly I have found, in making the experiment in certain directions, nothing of the sort was the 

 result." 



Following the bird a stage further in its existence, we find that on its second moult it 

 undergoes another change. Its body plumage loses much of its brilliancy, and what ticks or 

 rudimentary spangles may have been present either disappear or become much less distinct. 

 But the great change is in the wings and tail-feathers, which are now replaced by yellow 

 ones in which the shaft alone is dark, giving the bird a grizzly, pencilled appearance. And 

 this is just the case with the Lizard in a corresponding degree. His body does not turn 

 yellow, nor do his strong quills : the bird has been too carefully bred with a view to maintaining 

 these in their native strength to suppose this all at once possible, but the tendeticy is there 

 and shows itself in the most decided way. We need not say that the occasional presence of 

 exceptionally strong colour which requires more than one moult to materially affect its tone, 

 proves nothing but the evidence of skill on the part of the breeder to combat a tendency 

 which is known to exist ; and which in time always asserts its potency. In the ordinary 

 run of Lizards, however, this decadence sets in steadily on the shedding of the wings for the 

 first time ; and we intentionally refrained in our Lizard notes from referring to the extent to 

 which this sometimes does take place, in order that we might here apply it to our present 

 purpose. Jonque Lizards, in particular, are frequently seen after one or two moults so 

 entirely changed as to be almost unrecognisable as Lizards : cap, gone altogether, and in its 

 place an irregular patch of colour, including the face and throat, and covering a great portion 

 of the neck ; spangle, gone altogether, and resolved into a grizzly form, rendering the back 

 much clearer than we have seen in many a " strong " or heavily ticked London Fancy. 



We shall not follow this any further. For the fancier's purpose it is immaterial which 

 was the parent stem, or even whether either is really the foundation of the other, though it 

 is quite within the bounds of probability that in trying to perfect the development of spangle 

 in some ancient type, a form of albinism was detected and encouraged ; or that in attempting 

 to found a school which should moult from dark to light, spangle was discovered, and the 

 admirers of each carried out either property to its ultimate issue, fixing and perpetuating it 

 till from one fountain flowed two streams. The streams we have, but the fountain is lost 

 somewhere in that poetical region, the sands of time, in which are buried as many treasures 

 as in the more material but equally greedy sands of the Goodwin. We do not profess to 

 have so far unearthed it as to remove all doubts as to its identity, though we think we have 

 been digging at the right spot ; and have only carried on our excavations because we have 

 heard so many inquiries made as to its whereabouts, but have never met with any answer 

 which appeared to us to be based on reasonable premises. 



Continuing our description of the bird per se, we remark that the body-colour in the nest 

 toilet should be entirely dark, and not show any light or pied patches such as sometimes do appear, 

 but are not considered a favourable feature. The cap or crown ought to be quite clear and free 

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