Our  Canaries 
i. 
PREFACE. 
THE  immense  growth  of  the  hobby  of  cultivating  fancy  Canaries  for  pleasure, 
song  and  exhibition  in  recent  years  has  made  a  reliable  and  up-to-date 
standard  work  on  the  subject  a  long-felt  want  among  breeders  and  fanciers 
generally. 
Hitherto  no  such  work  dealing  solely  with  Canaries  has  been  available,  and 
the  Canary  fancier  had  perforce  to  consult  when  the  need  arose,  antiquated  works, 
large  portions  of  which  were  given  over  to  a  study  of  Mules  and  Hybrids,  British 
and  Foreign  birds  in  which  he  probably  had  little,  or  no,  interest. 
It  is  to  supply  the  need  for  a  thoroughly  comprehensive  and  up-to-date  work 
dealing  exhaustively  with  Canaries  that  the  present  work  has  been  designed.  In 
writing  the  text  I  have  avoided  obtruding  my  own  personal  opinions  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  those  of  others  whose  position  in  the  Fancy  entitles  them  to  speak  with 
authority,  but  have  endeavoured  to  make  it  a  compendium  of  the  best  thought  of 
the  day,  and  to  give  in  a  condensed  form  the  experiences  of  the  most  successful 
and  best  known  breeders  of  our  day  in  each  separate  variety — a  task  which  has 
been  rendered  easy  and  pleasant  by  the  numerous  breeders  of  high  standing  who 
have  ungrudgingly  placed  their  services  and  experiences  at  my  disposal. 
The  sumptuous  array  of  illustrations  from  the  skilled  and  facile  brush  and 
pencil  of  Mr.  H.  Norman  aids  considerably  in  elucidating  the  letterpress,  and  the 
coloured  and  half-tone  plates  of  birds  may  well  be  taken  as  models  of  present-day 
types,  and  ideals  of  perfection  of  their  respective  varieties  which  the  breeder  may 
safely  strive  to  evolve  in  real  life. 
My  acknowledgments  and  sincere  thanks  are  due,  and  are  here  tendered,  to  the 
host  of  fanciers  whose  names  will  be  found  scattered  throughout  the  work  for 
their  kindly  and  invaluable  assistance  in  my  task. 
It  only  remains  to  hope  that  the  enterprise  of  the  publisher  in  placing 
an  exclusive  and  standard  work  within  reach  of  every  Canary  fancier  may  be 
amply  rewarded. 
CLAUDE  St.  JOHN. 
Upper  Gornal, 
Dudley,  Worcs., 
August,  1911. 
