THE CANARY. 9 



clean ones, when it has happened that the 

 foul birds have been bred from clean birds : 

 on the contrary ; birds which have been 

 bred from foul ones, however clean they 

 may be themselves, often throw back, and 

 produce foul birds again. On this account, 

 particular attention ought to be paid, as far 

 as regards the matching the fancy bii'ds in- 

 tended to breed from : first, be thoroughly 

 acquainted with the strain from which the 

 bird, intended to be paired, came ; whe- 

 ther it was produced from a strong pair 

 of old ones, by which are meant those 

 birds which have a deal of black in them, 

 for in this case the young ones from such a 

 pair often throw back to the original 

 strength of the old ones, and deceive the 

 breeders who match them. Examine the 

 feathers on the back and breast, and if they 

 be strong, they will show a deal of black in 

 the down, in which case care must be taken 

 that it be not matched with another equally 

 strong, but with one that is of a beautiful 

 soft clean colour. 



Care must also be taken that the two 



