Characteristics op the Coppy. 253 



increased size if dark crests were recognised, further than to remark that the dark crest might 

 be bred without much risk of introducing other variegation, which, of course, would not for 

 one moment be tolerated. While describing things as we find them, we cannot help sometimes 

 looking at them from our own standpoint, but we have no wish to obtrude our ideas or 

 suggestions in an authoritative way. The Coppy belongs to Lancashire, and Lancashire has 

 a right to determine what it will and will not do with its own ; indeed, its breeders might say 

 and with much reason, " Please leave our bird alone ; we really don't want dark crests, and 

 are sorry we have even so many greys, which we take infinite pains to breed out ; you are 

 welcome to the use you have made of our bird in improving your own crests, and are at 

 liberty to produce them in as many shades of colour as you think fit, but we believe in only 

 one." And who shall say nay } 



In shape the Coppy is, throughout, massive in its proportions. The neck is moderately 

 long and also straight, but loses something of its apparent length in its stoutness, as the head 

 and crest must not appear as if attached to a mushroom stalk. A long, thin neck is the 

 usual adjunct to a small, neat head, which is the very thing we do not require. The shoulders 

 are broad and well filled, but not in any way_ prominent. The back is broad, long, and the 

 straighter the better, though the bird is often of such unwieldy proportions, that although a 

 line from the back of the skull to the end of its substantial tail ought to be straight, or as 

 nearly so as can be had, there is frequently a curve, which only extraordinary size can be 

 weighed against. The tendency of all very long Canaries is in the direction of a curve, and 

 the Coppy sometimes carries so much material in its construction that it becomes difficult to 

 dispose of it in strict accordance with the plans and specifications laid down for its erection. 

 Average birds, however, and birds above the average, especially among the Yellows, are to be 

 found rigidly straight, but some of the huge Bufifs really set all rule at defiance. They stand 

 alone ; they are like nothing but themselves ; they are simply giants, and claim a giant's 

 privilege of being constructed on their own special lines. The breast is very full and pro- 

 minent ; the body long and tapering, and showing plenty of side. The wings, as the general 

 construction of the bird would indicate, are also long, and are not unfrequently, especially in 

 the Buffs, crossed at the tips : this is not to be considered other than as a defect, though the 

 difficulty is how to overcome it when a certain point with respect to size has been passed. 

 The legs are long and strong, with the thighs well feathered and not too much exposed, or 

 what we have elsewhere described as stilty, i.e., straight and rigid. The body-feather ought 

 to be long without being coarse, and there should be plenty of it with a profusion of white 

 flossy underflue. This is to be obtained in reasonable perfection in the Yellows and some of 

 the finer Bufi's, but when we get among the Patagonians of the family many of them make 

 their toilet after their own fashion. The most common disarrangement of feather is tlie presence 

 of the ruffle on the breast, and a general flufifiness about the waist and the larger upper tail- 

 coverts. These are points which would tell against any specimen in close competition, but 

 unusual size and a superior style of coppy will smooth over a vast amount of the slovenliness 

 accompanying abnormal developments. It is a strong point to obtain a high amount of 

 finish in conjunction with a heavy, drooping crest, and true perfection doubtless consists in 

 the harmonious blending of many good properties rather than in the exaggeration of one; 

 but the Coppy is no exception to the rule which assigns higli values to ultra-excellence in 

 a cultivated feature, even if accompanied by others not in themselves desirable, though e.xcusabie 

 when it is remembered how materially they contribute to the object sought. 



Colour, such as it is, seems to be a feature on which some diversity of opinion e.^ists. 



