Our  Canaries 
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trouble  to  breed  out  once  they  get  implanted.  That  the  hen  we  specially  select 
for  the  cross  shows  none  of  these  features  is  no  criterion  whatever  that  she  will  not 
endow  her  children  and  grand-children  with  them.  The  inborn  properties  are 
there,  and,  although  they  lie  passive  and  dormant  in  this  particular  hen,  the 
hereditary  principle  will  rouse  them  into  activity,  and  bring  out  one  or  more  of 
those  objectionable  features  in  the  progeny  and  their  descendants  for  years  after 
she  herself  has  been  discarded.  Briefly,  it  is  playing  a  game  with  edged  tools  and 
risking  the  introduction  of  several  features  which  are  not  wanted,  any  one  of  which 
'''i'lilli  iiilli!ili!ll!n'!i|ii|iii!i;| 
"  White  leathers  in  wings  or  tail  are  fatal  delects." 
may  require  several  years  of  patient  work  to  breed  out  again ;  whereas  with  the 
Plainhead  cross  we  can  get  all  we  want  with  none  of  these  difficulties  to  contend 
with,  and  only  just  the  same  amount  of  care  and  attention  to  keep  control  over  the 
colour. 
ADVICE  FOR  THE  NOVICE. 
The  novice  or  young  beginner  in  the  fancy  is  frequently  warned  to  leave 
crossing  and  experiments  severely  alone  if  he  wants  to  aspire  quickly  to,  or  main- 
tain, a  position  as  a  successful  exhibitor,  and  in  no  breed  is  the  advice  more 
valuable  or  worthy  of  respect  than  in  the  Cinnamon.  The  vagaries,  and  apparently 
inexplicable  freaks,  that  arise  immediately  a  cross  is  introduced  are  apt  to  produce 
endless  confusion  in  his  mind,  and  bring  about  effects  in  his  stock  which  will 
exhaust  years  of  plodding  perseverance  to  obliterate.  Therefore,  in  the  Cinnamon 
above  all  other  breeds,  the  beginner  should  avoid  outside  crosses  as  he  would  a. 
