262 Caxaries and Cage-Birds. 



colour, and approximation to tlie liighest type of all, viz., the clear form, would place it in 

 the highest place, and especially if the patch were of so symmetrical a shape — say an oval 

 cap — as not to offend the eye by its irregularity. The principle involved is that marking is 

 valuable, but the clear form is more so, approximation to either being prized accordingly. 



Next come the Evenly-marked birds, and here we find ourselves dealing with a class ot 

 Mules about which there is no uncertainty and no twisting any Act of Parliament or adapting 

 the law to meet individual cases. In so far as regards markings, they are judged by the 

 severest standard it is possible to apply, the slightest defect being most jealously weighed in 

 scales of extreme sensibility. It is needless to refer to the different points of excellence in 

 marking, which have been minutely detailed elsewhere, but we may observe that good eye- 

 marks, that is, clearly-defined and neatly-pencilled, are not every-day occurrences among the 

 Jonques, in which a somewhat hazy form has occasionally to pass muster for the more perfect 

 delineation. Among the Buffs, however, this feature is frequently of most singular beauty, 

 being not only accurate in outline, but astonishing in colour, sometimes being found literally 

 as black as jet. Negative properties, such as dark flue in the region of the vent or smoky 

 tail-coverts, tell, every feather of them, against high-class Mules in close competition. So spotless 

 are the best specimens that the faintest suspicion of a tinge, even to the extent of an almost 

 imperceptible brownish cast, in these places is sufficient to entail substantial loss in a carefully- 

 estimated valuation of points, while an amount of discoloration of tail-coverts, which would 

 be tolerated among marked Canaries of the highest character, would almost furnish grounds 

 for disqualification in a Mule contest, and is, as will be understood, the greatest danger a 

 six-marked Mule has to encounter. Apart from this severe standard as applied to marking, 

 the leading points in a Marked Goldfinch Mule are — first, the purity and richness of the 

 body-feather. There must be none of the nondescript character about it we referred to at 

 the outset. Jonque plumage must be glittering and transparent, without a trace of the opacity 

 induced by the presence of meal. Want of character here tells with fatal effect, and is a 

 failing more frequently seen among Jonques than Buffs, where the colour is generally so 

 decided as to leave no room for doubt, a questionable Buff being a rarity. The texture of 

 the feather, too, is a thing by itself In the finest-feathered Norwich Canary ever fledged there 

 is always perceptible in the body-feather more or less of what we may call grain, but the clear 

 plumage of a Goldfinch Mule is, in comparison, as glossy satin is to the finest ribbed silk: it 

 has no grain, but simply a polished surface, a singularly fine texture which, as we explained, 

 is attributable to the hybrid character of the bird, and which, in its highest form, is the tangible 

 expression of the idea of quality. The wings of both Jonques and Mealies are margined by 

 the pure natural yellow of the Goldfinch wing. This " bloom," as it is termed, adds much to 

 the beauty of the otherwise almost colourless flights of the Buff bird, and is a strong point. The 

 ground-colour of a Buff Mule is a pure dead white, delicately shaded by creamy tones which, under 

 the effects of cayenne-feeding, become richer and warmer, particularly on the breast, where the 

 colour scintillates with great beauty. Botii forms of the bird should show as much " blaze " as 

 possible, which should be ruddy and full of " fire." In the Jonque it is generally evenly 

 distributed and delicately shaded off towards the margin, but in the Buff is sometimes found 

 less so, and occasionally in small disconnected patches, possibly more discernible than in the 

 Jonque from the nature of the ground-colour, a ticked form of face having its counterpart 

 in some examples of the Goldfinch itself These disconnected ruddy feathers must not be 

 confounded with the darker specks occasionally present near the margin of the face, which 

 are in reality bond fide dark feathers connected with the cheeks, and can be regarded in no 



