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Our  Canaries 
CHAPTER  IV. 
EXHIBITING  CANARIES. 
IN  these  days  the  exhibition  of  fancy  Canaries  is  almost  a  fine  art,  and  is 
a  subject  which  requires  close  and  careful  study  by  everyone  who  desires 
to  succeed  in  carrying  off  the  coveted  trophies  and  challenge  cups,  which  were 
never  so  abundantly  offered  for  competition  as  now.  The  success  and  popularity 
of  Canary  shows  in  the  last  decade  may  well  be  taken  as  an  index  of  the 
wide-spread  interest  in,  and  rapid  growth  of,  the  hobby.  These  exhibitions 
have  done  a  vast  amount  of  good,  not  only  in  providing  innocent  pleasure  and 
recreation  for  thousands  of  the  community,  with  which  we  need  not  concern 
ourselves,  but  also  in  providing  the  necessary  stimulus  and  friendly  rivalry 
among  the  devotees  of  the  pastime  which  was  essential  for  the  rapid  rise  and 
progress  of  the  fancy.  In  these  matters  competitive  rivalry  must  ever  be  the 
soul  of  progress  and  fresh  endeavour.  Disappointments  may,  and  do,  come 
to  many  when  the  glittering  gems  of  the  prize-list  pass  incontinently  beyond 
one's  grasp,  but  so  long  as 
"  Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast," 
so  will  the  next  prize-list  as  surely  give  a  fresh  impetus,  blighted  hopes  give 
place  to  desires  born  anew,  and  the  earnest  fancier  decide   to  make  another 
plunge  and  tempt  fate  once  more. 
ETHICS  OF  EXHIBITING. 
Thus  the  year  goes  round;  always  the  same,  yet  ever  new.  And  it  is 
to  this  spirit  of  friendly  rivalry  that  we  owe  the  multiplicity  of  breeds  and 
varieties  which  grace  the  show  benches  of  to-day,  many  of  which  are  of  quite 
modern  growth  and  their  origin  practically  contemporaneous  with  the  sole 
cause  of  their  evolution— the  growth  and  popularity  of  competitive  exhibitions. 
But  the  subject  needs  study.  One  of  our  best-known  judges  who  has  risen 
from  the  ranks  of  breeder  and  exhibitor  has  well  said  that,  to  become  a 
successful  exhibitor  one  must  be  tactful  and  up-to-date,  and  still  further  draws 
the  inference  from  the  truism  that  our  judges  being  only  human  like  our- 
selves, having  their  own  personal  likes  and  dislikes,  one  of  the  greatest 
secrets  of  successful  exhibiting  is  to  know  what  kind  of  specimens  to  show 
under  various  judges.  This  knowledge  can  be  best  obtained  by  visiting  a 
number  of  shows  judged  by  different  judges,  especially  to  study  the  type  of 
birds  winning  the  premier  honours  in  the  variety  one  is  interested  in. 
BE  SPORTSMANLIKE. 
But  let  one  and  all  remember  before  all  else  that  in  this  pastime  of 
exhibiting  Canaries  one  should  be  prepared  to  lose  with  as  good  a  grace  as  to 
