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CHAPTER XXV. 



THE SCOTCH FANCY CANARY. 



This in every way riiost remarkable Canary is, as its name suggests, a creation of our neigh- 

 bours across the Tweed, and is wholly and entirely an exclusive speciality, as is the " postuur 

 vogel " in Belgium, of which bird it is, doubtless, an offshoot, and is, in truth, the " postuur 

 vogel " of Scotland. It is known also as the Glasgow Fancy and Glasgow Don, the Glasgow 

 breeders preferring, we believe, the national name, and only tolerating the other as reflecting 

 so'-ne honour on the city as being the head-quarters of the bird. East and south of Edin- 

 burgh the name Don is general, and the Glasgow definition " piebald," the equivalent of our 

 "variegated," becomes "flecked," these differences in name and idiom being sufficiently marked 

 to indicate the distribution of the bird geographically — a matter which further affords indirect 

 information to the fancier who recognises under the local difference in nomenclature some varia- 

 tion also in the type of bird, the standard of Glasgow and the western district generally 

 being far in advance of that set up in some other places. 



No authentic history of the bird has ever been put in our hands, though the heads of 

 many of the breeders have moulted white, and their' memories are rich in stories of the old 

 days from the history of the first pair — the " Girvan " pair we think they were called, from the 

 name of the town where they appeared — down to to-day. So far as we can gather, however, 

 there is nothing directly connecting the bird with historical events, the story of its development 

 being probably of local interest, but the bird itself is an unwritten narrative of deep interest. 



Whatever may be the real state of Canary-breeding, in its strict application, in England, 

 the national bird of Scotland is a living evidence of the way in which it is followed up on 

 the other side of the Cheviots. It seems to be with the Scotch a thing not to be spoken of 

 lightly or entered into thoughtlessly ; a pursuit to be followed out through any difficulties, 

 and, once taken up, never to be relinquished. A Scotch breeder would think he had not done 

 his duty to his wife and family, or as a citizen, till he had earned a " first and special " — his 

 crown of rejoicing. We say " breeder " and write it with respect, for in Scotland the breeder 

 is everything and the exhibitor nothing. We don't mean to insinuate that the man of long 

 purse is not as much honoured on yon side the Tweed as on this, or that bawbees are not as 

 much respected for what they can accomplish ; but we do say that genuine deference is paid 

 to the man who breeds his birds, and not to the man who buys them, however necessary the 

 one may be to the other ; and there are many birds which cannot be bought at any price^ 

 they represent something achieved, the result of years of careful breeding, an honour and 

 satisfaction which has not an equivalent value in Scotch notes. We, on this side the Border, 

 have no idea of the absorbing interest manifested by the Scotch fanciers for their bird. We 

 have nothing akin to it, unless, perhaps, it may be found here and there in certain districts 

 in which one bird has become a favourite ; as, for instance, in Norwich, whose well-known 

 bird has for generations been the household god of succeeding generations of breeders, 

 who have never forsaken the faith of their fathers, but held on tenaciously to their one 



