4 Farmers' Bulletin 1327. 



In the class of exhibition birds, perhaps none is more striking 

 than the Belgian canary, pictured in Figure 2. Formerly known as 

 the " king of the fancy," it was reared extensively in Belgium, but 

 of late years its popularity has been on the decline, so that as late as 

 1911 it was said that few pure-bred Belgians were to be found. The 

 typical Belgian canary is a large bird with a small head, long, 

 slender neck, large shoulders, and a long, tapering body. It is pri- 

 marily a bird of " position." When assuming the peculiar and de- 

 sired attitude the bird throws its shoulders up and brings the head 

 down well below their level; the back and tail form a perpendicular 

 line and the feet are held close together. 



Another bird of position is the Scotch fancy canary, illustrated in 

 Figure 3. This variety resembles the Belgian, but when in position 



Pig. 



-Belgian fancy canary. 



Fig. 3. — Scotch fancy canary. 



throws the tail in under the perch until its outline in profile is almost 

 a semicircle. 



Another well-marked variety is the cinnamon canary, one of the 

 earliest forms to appear, but one whose origin is wholly unknown. 

 Its true color is a dun or dull brown that has been likened to 

 cinnamon. In exhibition birds the color is usually intensified by 

 color feeding (see p. 14). The cinnamon canary is peculiar also in 

 possessing red or pink eyes, a character that denotes cinnamon blood 

 even in a yellow or buff bird. The cinnamon inheritance is trans- 

 mitted only by the male; young reared from a cinnamon mother and 

 a male of any other form lacking cinnamon blood never show signs 

 of their cinnamon parentage. 



Among the old-established varieties that now are in decadence 

 none is more striking than the lizard canary. Lizard canaries are 

 known as " gold " or " silver," according as the body color is yellow 

 or silvery gray. The wings and tail are black and the back is 

 spangled with numerous somewhat triangular black spots. The 

 crown in pure-bred birds is unspotted and light in color, as shown 

 in Figure 4. 



