Our  Canaries  251 
nearly  every  breed  we  possess,  and  the  unique  potency  of  Cinnamon  blood,  which 
causes  it  to  continue  cropping  up  at  intervals  several  generations  after  it  has  once 
been  introduced,  which,  altogether,  renders  it  exceedingly  difficult,  and  often  quite 
impossible  in  the  absence  of  a  certain  knowledge  of  a  bird's  pedigree,  to  tell 
whether  a  given  bird  has  any  taint  of  Cinnamon  blood  in  it  or  not.  The  definite 
results  we  have  first  named  are  what  may  be  confidently  expected  when  birds  of 
undoubted  Cinnamon  or  non-Cinnamon  type  are  used.  Whenever  difi-erent 
results  are  obtained  it  will  be  proof-positive  that  the  birds  are  not  free  from  alien 
blood,  and  in  all  probability  that  the  supposed  non-Cinnamon  bird  is  tinctured 
with  Cinnamon  blood,  although  no  trace  of  it  may  appear  on  the  surface.  The 
old  axiom  that  the  Cinnamon  can  be  grafted  on  any  stock,  but  no  scion  can  be 
grafted  on  the  Cinnamon  is,  given  pure  and  uncontaminated  blood,  as  true  to-day 
as  of  yore. 
ITS  MYSTERIES  AND  VAGARIES. 
On  this  subject  the  late  Mr.  J.  North  once  said  :  "  I  have  never  seen  any  list 
of  rules  relative  to  Cinnamon  crossing,  and  in  many  articles  on  the  subject  some 
indications  are  evident  of  the  road  that  leads  to  nowhere.  We  will  take  the  cocks 
first,  and  say  that  a  Cinnamon-coloured  cock,  or  a  Cinnamon-bred  pink-eyed  cock, 
or  a  Cinnamon-bred  Green  cock,  matched  to  a  non-Cinnamon-bred  hen  will  not 
produce  any  Cinnamon  sons,  but  that  any  Cinnamon-feathered  chick  will  prove  to 
be  a  hen.  The  Green  Cinnamon-bred  cocks  and  pink-eyed  hens  with  clear  yellow, 
or  buff  plumage  (or  if  ticked,  then  with  Cinnamon-ticked  feathers)  may  be  bred 
from  a  Cinnamon  cock  and  non-Cinnamon  hen,  but  Cinnamon  plumaged  cocks 
and  pink-eyed  cocks  cannot  be  so  produced.  Should,  however,  a  Cinnamon  son 
appear,  it  is  proof  positive  that  Cinnamon  blood  exists  in  the  mother  as  well  as  the 
father. 
"A  Cinnamon-coloured  hen,  or  a  pink-eyed  hen,  or  a  Cinnamon-bred  hen 
cannot  reproduce  a  single  Cinnamon-coloured  chick  unless  paired  to  a  Cinnamon- 
bred  cock.  But  should  a  Cinnamon  son  or  daughter  appear  from  such  a  pair,  in 
fact  should  they  throw  a  single  Cinnamon  feather,  or  a  single  pink-eyed  bird,  it 
proves  Cinnamon  blood  exists  in  both  parents." 
TO  PRODUCE  CINNAMON  SONS. 
It  is  necessary  to  have  a  Cinnamon-coloured  or  pink-eyed  or  Cinnamon- 
bred  Green  cock  paired  to  a  similarly  bred  hen  in  order  to  obtain  Cinnamon  sons, 
but  the  Cinnamon  daughters,  as  we  have  previously  noted,  may  be  got  off  a 
Cinnamon-blooded  male  parent  only,  and  seeing  how  easy  it  is  to  obtain  a 
Cinnamon  daughter,  and  how  much  more  difficult  it  is  to  get  a  Cinnamon  son, 
one  would  have  supposed  that  when  a  pair  of  birds  possessed  sufficient  Cinnamon 
blood  in  them  to  produce  a  Cinnamon  son  that  all  the  daughters  would  easily  be 
Cinnamons.  Yet  such  is  not  the  case,  as  I  have  bred  a  Cinnamon  cock  and  a 
Green  hen  in  the  same  nest.    To  show  you  the  intricacies  of  Cinnamon  crossing. 
