Our  Canaries 
SEXUAL  DISTINCTIONS. 
To  be  able  to  recognise  the  sex  of  any  given  bird  is,  of  course,  essential 
before  the  beginner  can  select  pairs  or  stock  birds  for  himself.  Unfortunately, 
the  information  can  scarcely  be  conveyed  in  print,  nor  much  more  easily  by 
personal  tuition.  The  external  signs  of  sex  have  so  completely  disappeared 
from  the  domesticated  Canary  as  to  be  recognised  with  certainty  in  all  cases, 
apart  from  song  or  other  incontrovertible  proof,  only  by  a  kind  of  intuition 
which  comes  of  experience.  Indeed,  in  particular  cases  the  most  experienced 
breeders  may  be  baffled.  The  song  may  nearly  always  be  taken  as  a  sign  of 
the  male  sex,  but  there  are  exceptional  cases  where  a  hen  will  sing  with 
sufficient  power  and  freedom  to  deceive  the  hearer.  But,  still,  these  cases 
are  quite  exceptional,  and  one  will  rarely  go  wrong  in  taking  a  good,  free  and 
bold  singer  without  scrappy  jerks  and  breaks  in  the  performance,  and  in  which 
the  throat  palpably  swells  out  and  throbs  violently  whilst  the  song  is  going 
on,  as  evidences  of  the  male  sex.  The  call  notes,  or  "sweetings,"  of  the 
cocks  are  also  more  defiant  and  liquid,  and  bold  and  ringing,  compared  with 
those  of  hens.  The  general  appearance  and  carriage  are  more  bold  and 
dominant,  the  eye  more  alert  and  bold,  and  there  is  a  more  graceful  sweep 
of  outline  from  the  lower  breast  to  the  under  tail  coverts.  All  these  distinc- 
tions, however,  are  comparative,  and  not  at  all  times  easy  for  a  novice  to 
appreciate.  One  other  difference  in  adult  birds  is  the  shape  of  the  vent, 
which  is  more  constant  and  easily  seen.  In  the  male  bird  it  will  be  found 
prominent  and  pointed,  whereas  in  the  hen  it  is  flat  and  expansive  and  on 
a  level  with  the  abdomen. 
YELLOW  AND  BUFF. 
These  two  types  of  colour,  which  are  constantly  before  the  novice  in 
descriptions  of  birds,  are  not  infrequently  a  puzzle  to  the  reader.  To  him 
a  yellow  and  a  buff  will  generally  appear  as  two  yellow  birds,  though  even  the 
untrained  eye  of  the  novice  will  recognise  that  one  is  a  better  coloured 
yellow  than  the  other.  The  difference  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  colour  in 
the  feathers  of  a  yellow— whether  it  be  rich  or  pale— extends  to  the  tip  of  the 
webs  of  the  feathers,  which  gives  the  bird  a  richer  and  more  even  tone  of 
colour  throughout.  In  a  buff  bird,  however,  whilst  the  yellow  colour  in  the 
body  of  the  feather  may  be  just  as  rich  as  in  a  yellow,  it  will  be  found, 
when  closely  examined,  to  stop  short  at  the  edge  of  the  web,  so  that  there 
is  a  narrow  margin  of  white  around  the  web  of  each  feather.  These  white 
margins  are  seen  as  a  kind  of  overlay  to  the  yellow  tint  of  the  body  of  the 
feather,  and  give  a  general  appearance  of  mealiness  to  the  bird,  especially 
about  the  head,  neck,  shoulders  and  upper  back,  as  though  the  plumage 
was  covered  with  hoar  frost,  or  the  bird  had  been  sprinkled  over  with  a  white 
powder  or  meal.    In  fact  these  birds  were  termed  "mealies"  in  olden  days 
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