lO 
Our  Canaries 
distance  to  warrant  the  supposition  that  these  varieties  were  all  bred  in  a  more 
or  less  primitive  type  when  his  work  was  written. 
But  the  growth  and  development  of  the  hobby  within  the  past  fifty  years 
has  been  the  most  phenomenal  in  all  its  history,  and  its  progress  from  year  to 
year  has  gone  forward  and  upward  by  leaps  and  bounds  so  that  there  was 
never  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  bird  when  its  adherents  formed  such  a 
considerable  proportion  of  the  populace  as  is  the  case  at  the  present  day  ;  or 
when  such  a  galaxy  of  charming  and  beautiful  varieties  were  produced  to  gratify 
the  taste  and  please  the  eye  of  its  multitudinous  admirers.  Neither  is  the  Fancy 
now  of  the  same  localised  character  as  was  to  a  certain  extent  the  case  only 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 
THE  WORKERS  AS  CANARY  FANCIERS. 
At  that  time  the  overflow  of  interest  in  it  had  already  begun  to  spread  from 
its  strongholds,  but  the  mainstay  was  undoubtedly  still  invested  in  such  hot-beds 
as  the  city  of  Norwich,  with  its  reputed  4,000  breeders,  and  similar  centres 
where  the  hobby  of  canary  breeding  did  much  to  cheer  and  enliven  the  sedentary 
occupations  of  a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants.  For  it  is  undoubtedly  a  fact 
that  the  principal  centres  which  nurtured  the  canary  hobby  in  its  early  days  were 
also  associated  with  manufactures  or  occupations  of  this  description.  Such  places 
were  the  cities  and  towns  of  Coventry,  Derby,  Northampton,  and  Nottingham, 
and  many  towns  in  Yorkshire  and  Lancashire,  each  of  which  fostered  their 
own  particular  breed,  and  in  at  least  three  instances  gave  the  name  of  their 
birthplace  to  the  breed  of  their  choice.  Thus  we  have  now  the  Lancashire,  the 
Yorkshire,  and  the  Norwich,  as  living  monuments  to  immortalise  the  taste  and 
skill  of  the  fanciers  of  the  places  whence  they  originated. 
