288 
Our  Canaries 
A  TRAIN  OF  NOTABLES. 
"About  1883,  Mr.  Bastock,  of  Birmingham,  held  the  field  with  a  lovely  one 
called  '  Sunshine,'  and  quickly  following  came  a  host  of  good  ones.  Mr.  Pine's 
grand  clear  Crest-bred  '  Devastation '  ;  Messrs.  Mackley's  '  Prince  of  Wales', 
'  King  of  Champions  ' ;  Mr.  Heath's  '  Belgrave  Hero' ;  Mr.  Tranmer's  '  Scarboro' 
King ' ;  Mr.  Toward's  '  King  of  the  Season  ' ;  and  a  whole  list  of  champions  bred  by 
Mr.  F.  W.  Barnett.  I  remember  handling  one  of  Mr.  Barnett's  winners  at  the  Palace 
some  years  since.  I  think  it  was  called  '  Emperor  of  Champions.'  The  '  sweep  '  of 
its  crest  was  marvellous,  round  and  well  dipped,  thickly  thatched,  and  oh !  what  a 
frontal ;  we  measured  the  length  of  the  frontal  feathers  with  a  decimal  gauge,  and 
they  measured  exactly  thirteen-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  length  from  the  centre  of 
the  crest  to  the  end,  which  lay  well  over  the  tip  of  the  beak. 
"  Some  very  beautiful  yellow  Crests  have 
appeared.  Occasional  specimens  have  been 
endowed  with  an  enormous  wealth  of  feather, 
little  inferior  in  length  and  density  to  the  best 
buffs.  Whilst  the  yellow  Crest-breds  have 
been  truly  gigantic  for  size  of  body,  profusion 
of  feather  and  general  massiveness,  visions 
.  of  Mr.  Bowyer's  *  Moorland  King '  and  many 
others  flash  across  my  mind.  The  memory 
of  such  birds  prompts  me  to  state,  that  had 
a  more  general  system  of  matching  yellow 
and  buff  together— instead  of  the  too  prevalent  one  of  double-bufting— been 
adopted,  the  results  would  have  been  even  happier  than  they  have  been." 
"  The  system  of  double-buffing  has  been  responsible  for  the  squeezing  out  of 
the  yellows.  The  effect  has  been  that  fewer  good  yellow  birds  have  been  bred, 
fewer  classes  provided,  and  a  gradual  decadence  of  size  and  feather  for  a  number 
of  years.  So  keen  was  the  desire  for  massive  crests,  and  length  of  feather  in  buffs, 
that— clinging  to  the  deep-rooted  idea  that  only  from  buffs  could  this  great  length 
of  feather  be  got — yellows  became  very  much  neglected,  except  in  some  few  and 
rare  cases,  and  yet  some  of  the  largest  buff  Crests  that  ever  graced  the  show  bench 
were  obtained  from  parents  of  whom  one  was  a  yellow.  It  is  also  undeniable  that 
progeny  bred  after  this  fashion  almost  invariably  excelled  in  richness  of  colour  and 
silkiness  of  feather." 
THE  TYPICAL  BIRDS  AND  SOME  FAILINGS. 
In  the  course  of  an  interesting  paper  the  Rev.  David  Dickson  in  briefly 
describing  the  ideal  bird  incidentally  mentions  some  of  its  commonest  failings  and 
their  effects.  In  his  own  words  the  ideal  type  for  the  Crest  is  a  bird  :— "  standing 
well  on  its  legs  on  perch ;  deep  round  chest,  with  wings  well  set ;  tail  medium 
length  ;  head  round,  nicely  arched,  with  crest  radiating  from  a  small  centre  over 
"In  the  Crcst-brcd  avoid  a  large^bcak 
alao  a  flat  head." 
