240 Caxai^es A.vn Cage- Birds. 



Attitude is one of the vital points, and one about which no two opinions exist. A bird wliich haa 

 the slightest disposition to stand across the perch is not of any use in a show-cage. Size, also — or, 

 perhaps, it will be better to say length — is a commanding feature ; for it will be evident that length 

 without bulk is what is required. It is in this respect chiefly that so much alteration has taken 

 place during the past few years Not so very long ago there were two schools of fanciers of the 

 variety — those who adhered closely to the original type in all its essentials, but who, in clinging to 

 them, had allowed a manifest deterioration in length and size generally to creep in ; and those who, 

 determining to recover these features, plunged rather wildly in the opposite direction, and imported 

 a lot of foreign element which almost threatened to swamp the stylish bird ol the olden time. 

 Indeed, there was at one time imminent danger of the massive Lancashire Plainhead supplanting 

 the genuine Yorkshire. Decisive action in the show-room eventually settled the question, and the 

 variety was established on a sounder basis than had existed for years, the importation of the 

 Lancashire and other elements, in which Belgian and Norwich also played no inconsiderable part, 

 not having been without some advantage. The bird was really declining, and required vigorous 

 treatment, though the work of restoration was rather hastily performed. The features now 

 requiring the most careful watching are the various distinctive marks of tin. different crosses 

 introduced, and are chiefly the imprints of the Belgian and Lancashire blood. From the 

 latter came bulkiness and a certain degree of coarseness of feather and width of skull incom- 

 patible with requirements demanding length without thickness, close feathei, and a narrow 

 head. To this we might add a tendency, common to the Lancashire bird, to grow a breast- 

 frill on a front which cannot be starched and ironed down with too much care. The first 

 of these bad points, undue size, was to some extent toned down by the Belgian cross, which 

 in its turn left the inevitable system of curved lines, the prominent shoulder, hollow neck, 

 too fine head, and generally nervous temperament not wanted in the Yorkshire. The Norwich 

 was also called into requisition, and to this may be attributed the improvement in colour which 

 has taken place, many specimens now showing the power to develop it in a degree little short of 

 that possessed by the famous colour-bird itself. There is not much fear, however, of colour ever 

 interfering seriously with standard properties, though it will always carry some weight when present 

 in conjunction with them — not otherwise. It will be admitted that there are recognised features 

 which must be stamped on certain varieties ; they are their sign-manual ; they must be there, what- 

 ever else be absent, must be first looked for and last lost sight of ; and keeping this principle in 

 view, we think that fanciers of this beautiful variety are united in their desire to maintain a high 

 uniform standard, from which there is now as little — perhaps less — departure tolerated than in any 

 variety in exhibition. The champion birds of the day are so uniformly true to one model as to 

 leave no room for doubt that the true character of the Yorkshire is thoroughly understood; though, 

 if we might venture on a caution, we would suggest that there is yet a possibility of coming to grief 

 by overdoing the bird in respect to mere size. It is not a safe policy to leave any boundary-line 

 undefined, and the fence between Yorkshire and Lancashire, once put in repair, should be most 

 scrupulously kept up. By aiming at undue size and ever harping on that one string, the Yorkshire 

 breeder drifts towards the very rock he should seek to avoid. If his bird be a modified form of the 

 Lancashire, then should the distinction be well maintained, since with every addition in the 

 direction of size will return those features originally belonging to it. Let it be remembered that 

 neither bird can take the place of the other under a judge who knows the difference between the 

 two. An indifferent Lancashire is not a Yorkshire, nor vice zwrsA, and a greater folly does not 

 exist than bringing the two so closely into juxtaposition that essentials arc lost in the resulting 

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