MANIFOLD UNDER-T3REEDS. 



19 



other of these shades. Fine dun-coloured birds which dis- 

 play this tint only on the upper part of the body, while the 

 low T er mast be of a deep golden colour, are very rare and 

 much coveted, and fetch a good price ; birds of this colour are 

 also called " Elb "-coloured by the people of Berlin. 



(e.) The greyish-green, whose colour also varies, more or 

 less, between yellow, green, and black, these certainly pre- 

 sent the closest resemblance to their ancestors. There 

 exist also canaries of a deep orange colour with a near ap- 

 proach to red ; they form a branch of the English breed, 

 which I shall describe further on. 



Smooth-headed and crested — the common German canaries 

 are further divided into smooth-headed and crested ones, 

 and these are again sub-divided into "tufted," "crowned," 

 and u tollig" 1 "hooded " ones. 



Manifold Under- Breeds.— If we consider that, 



among the coloured canaries, numerous different appellations 

 are again given according to the different colours and marks, 

 it will be admitted that a sufficient number of under-breeds 

 will be forthcoming, the systematic classification of which 

 is not without a certain importance to fanciers, and to which 

 we now turn our attention. Under the head of 



(a.) Speckled are classed : — All canaries which present 

 different colours in irregular designs, and which, owing to 

 the cross-breeding of different coloured birds, are, as a 

 matter of course, most numerously represented, but which 

 are rated as of the lowest value by the fancier of coloured 

 birds, we distinguish : Yellow-speckled — of a fine bright 

 yellow, but disfigured, here and there, by patches of green, 

 grey, or brown ; Pale-speckled — of lighter colours similarly 

 marked ; Dun-speckled — of a yellow or red-brown and 

 marked in a similar manner ; Tiger-speckled — which show 



1 " Tollig " is an idiomatic German expression, only locally known, 

 and cannot be adequately translated, 



