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Our  Canaries 
and  greatly  handicaps  its  chances  of  success  on  the  show-bench.  No  one  but  the 
veriest  novice  would  fall  into  the  error  of  colour-feeding  Greens. 
IMPROVING  NATURAL  COLOUR. 
Although  these  natural  colour  birds  are  strictly  barred  from  the  ordinary 
process  of  colour-feeding  there  are  legitimate  means  by  which  the  natural  depth 
and  richness  of  tone  may  be  perceptibly  increased.  In  the  first  place  health 
alone  plays  an  important  part  in  the  matter.  A  bird  that  is  weakly  and  run 
down  in  condition  will  invariably  lose  a  certain  amount  of  the  tone  and  natural 
lustre  of  its  plumage  which  add  the  final  richness  to  the  feather  of  a  bird 
that  is  in  high  condition  and  in  perfect  health.  It  is  well  said  that  "a  good 
horse  is  never  a  bad  colour,"  and  an  analogous  proverb  might  be  applied  to 
our  Canaries  with  an  equal  foundation  of  fact  to  the  effect  that  a  perfectly 
healthy,  high-conditioned  bird  never  lacks  a  bloom  and  warmth  of  tone  in  its 
plumage  which  at  once  place  it  in  front  of  a  less  physically  perfect  specimen 
in  point  of  colour  and  beauty. 
To  obtain  this  ideal  condition  a  generous  and  varied  diet  to  keep  up  a 
good  supply  of  rich  pure  blood  whilst  the  moult  is  in  progress  is  one  of  the 
most  essential  requirements.  The  diet  must  not  be  limited  to  hard,  dry  seeds. 
Let  a  variety  of  seeds  be  always  available,  but  in  addition  supply  also  a 
varied  assortment  of  green  foods  ;  half  ripened  seed-stalks  of  the  many  plants 
generally  used  for  green  food,  or  wild  seeds,  which  should  contain  the  fully 
developed  seeds  in  a  milky  state  ;  fruits  and  vegetable  substances,  particularly 
banana,  sweet  apple  and  carrot ;  and  every  now  and  again  a  little  egg  food, 
crushed  sponge  or  madeira  cake,  or  bread  and  milk.  It  is  not  necessary  to  give 
all  these  items  at  one  time.  It  is  better  to  ring  the  changes  on  them,  using 
them  all  in  turn  and  keeping  one  or  another  going  regularly  as  a  daily  item  in 
addition  to  the  staple  of  dry  seeds. 
A  plentiful  supply  of  marigold  and  nasturtium  blooms  should  also  be  kept 
available  right  through  the  moult.  In  former  days  the  latter  were  looked  upon 
in  much  the  same  way  as  we  now  regard  colour-foods,  but  immediately  fell 
into  disuse  as  colour  producers  when  the  modern  process  which  is  so  much 
more  powerful  was  discovered.  Still  they  are  so  little  valued  now  as  a  colour- 
food  that  it  is  considered  perfectly  legitimate  to  use  them  freely  in  moult- 
ing the  Border  Fancy  Canary,  many  of  which  breed  have  doubtless  had  their 
chances  of  success  materially  increased  by  their  free  and  regular  use  whilst 
moulting. 
LIGHT  AND  OTHER  INFLUENCES. 
The  varied  regimen  advocated  will  also  tend  to  s  upply  other  substarces 
in  a  natural  form  which  are  extracted  and  utilised  in  the  manufacture  of  colour 
in  the  internal  economy  of  the  bird.    An  excellent  aid  to  increase  of  natural 
