248 Canaries and Cage-Birds. 



evenly-marked. 



Points of Merit. 



Maximum. 

 Marking — Eyes : for neatness and regulai'ity of out- 

 line, and for distinctness 25 



Wings : for exactness, decreasing in value as the 

 marking extends beyond tlie secondary flights 

 or encroaches on the larger wing-coverts ... 20 

 Tail: for exactness ... ... ... ... S 



Negative Properties. 



An Evenly-marked Yorkshire should not have broken or 

 ragged eye-marks, nor any of the irregular ftjrms not recognised 

 by the laws governing eye-marking, neitlier should it have a 

 cap, however symmetrical. It should not have a "mixed" 

 wing, nor should any feathers attached to the wing be dark, 

 — 50 excepting the flights ; and specially, the feathers of the bastard 

 wing should not be dark. It should not show any discoloured 

 fair size, and erect carriage ... ... ... ... 3° ! feathers on the margin of the saddle or wlicre the feathers 



Feather — For compact body-feather, and close car- merge with those of the wing-coverts, nor any discoloration in 



riage of wings and tail .. . ... ... ... ... 10 the upper or lower tail-coverts, nor should there be any mark 



Colour — Foi pure body-colour and brilliancy of whatever to interfere with a clear run, above and below, from 



markings ... ... 5 the beak to the tail, nor any other violation of the simple law 



Shape AND Position — For symmetrical proportion, 



Condition — ypecially for sound feather S 



Total 



which determines the difference between technical "marking" 

 and variegation. 



TICKED AND VARIEGATED. 



The scale for Clears applies to the Ticked birds without alteration of any kind, except 

 that the points for colour may all be given to external body-colour, no deductions being 

 necessary for dark underflue or discoloured beak, legs, &c., which, from the nature of things, 

 are as likely to present themselves as not. But with regard to the Variegated birds, since 

 the greater part of them represent failures in the direction of even-marking more or less mixed 

 up with irregular variegation, the latter being a thing of no value in a Yorkshire, while the 

 former represents considerable worth, the scale for judging Evenly-marked birds is applicable in 

 cases in which there is an approximation to respectable marking, such birds being better repre- 

 sentatives of the Variegated portion of the class than are the patched or blotched birds, which 

 stand less chance than do the purely Ticked birds of finding their way into the foremost rank, 

 unless they show exceptional merit or are so lightly marked as to afford reasonable grounds 

 for supposing they are slight departures from the Clear form rather than useless offshoots from 

 the cultivated Evenly-marked strain. This, we can see, is open to the objection that the Ticked 

 and the Variegated, though grouped in one section, will be measured, practically, by differently 

 constructed scales, inasmuch as we have said that the Ticked birds are to be judged by the 

 same scale as the Clears, the assessments in which are not identical with those in the Variegated 

 scale; but the mistake, if there be any, consists not so much in the system we have worked 

 cut, as in a universally adopted classification which groups unlike things, bred for dissimilar 

 objects, in one class. The logical solution of the difficulty would be to form two classes — 

 (a), including the Ticked and such other forms of variegation as could compete on the basis 

 of shape irrespective of marking, and ib), such as might expect to compete v/ith reasonable 

 prospect of success on the basis of approximate connection with technical marking, and this is 

 really the true foundation on which the classification of this variety should be built. That 

 which is lawful, however, is not always expedient, and in the practical working of our public 

 exhibitions such an arrangement, probably, could not conveniently be made. Note particularly 

 that if the two classes of birds, though dissimilar, were by common consent to sink their 

 dissimilarity, i.e., variegation, and be measured by their similarity, i.e., shape, the same scale 

 would measure both ; as it is, we must work with such tools as we have, though the difficulty 

 is lessened if the principle we laid down in our explanatory notes on the usual classification 

 be recognised, viz., that form and approximate excellence in marking will count above equally 



