Ottr  Canaries  297 
the  production  of  good  Crests.  The  general  idea  is  that  to  breed  winners  one 
must  pair  two  buffs,  until  this  mode  of  procedure  has  given  the  variety  the 
appearance  of  being  washed-out,  or  feathers  as  coarse  as  hempen  yarn.  But  after 
experimenting  with  yellows  for  a  number  of  years  I  can  state  from  experience  that 
champions  can  be  produced  from  matings  of  yellow  and  buff  year  after  year. 
The  very  best  and  largest  buffs  I  have  exhibited  have  been  bred  in  this  way.  The 
late  'Daisy,'  winner  of  22  firsts,  came  from  second  year  yellow  and  buff  mating. 
'  Perfect  Surprise,'  which  used  to  beat  buffs,  beating  the  late  noted  '  Eclipse,'  was 
second  cross  from  yellows  and  buffs.  Seeing  that  it  was  possible  by  judicious 
selection  to  utilise  the  yellows  and  still  maintain  size,  I  tried  again  by  pairing  for 
the  third  season  a  very  large  clear  buff  Crest-bred  cock,  second  cross  from  Coppy, 
to  a  jonque  green  Crest  hen,  second  cross  Lancashire.  The  result  was  beyond  my 
expectations,  as  from  this  pair  came  some  of  the  largest  and  most  densely 
feathered  birds  I  ever  bred— real  giants.  In  the  fourth  season  I  again  mated  a 
yellow ;  a  Crest  hen  from  this  strain  to  a  Crest-bred  cock,  bred  from  two  Crests, 
with  dense,  broad,  veiny  head  feather.  From  this  pair  came  one  with  a  thick, 
dense,  heavy  front,  and  good  centre  and  back." 
A    COMMON  FAILING. 
"  The  one  great  difficulty  is  to  keep  a  good  back  on  yellow  Crests.  This  can 
be  done  in  two  ways.  Get  a  Coppy  hen,  double-coppy  bred,  and  mate  to  a  good 
green  crested  cock.  Then  utilise  the  Crest-bred  hens  from  this  cross  to  mate  with 
yellow  Crests.  Another  method,  which  has  given  me  excellent  results  is  mating  a 
good  buff  Coppy  to  a  good  thick  yellow  Crest-bred  hen.  Then  the  following 
season  mate  thoFe  which  come  with  the  Coppy-Crest  (yellows)  to  good  buff 
crested  cock.  Remember  always  that  if  we  mean  to  breed  birds  of  exceptional 
merit  in  yellows  we  must  mate  the  largest  birds  which  possess  the  coarsest  feather. 
By  this  method  we  can  easily  retain  size  and  substance,  which  is  essential  to  carry 
off  the  First  and  Special  at  Crest  Club  shows.  The  yellow  Coppy-crested  hens 
from  first  cross  mated  to  a  buff  Crest  cock  have  given  me  some  grand  exhibition 
birds.  At  this  stage  I  feared  I  had  gone  far  enough  with  yellow  blood  and 
decided  to  put  up  only  one  pair  from  the  old  strain  of  yellows.  I  mated  a  yellow- 
green  cock  to  a  large  buff  lightly  marked  hen.  Every  buff  in  this  strain  descended 
from  yellows,  and  the  hen  mated  to  the  yellow-green  possessed  as  much  '  meal '  as 
most  Norwich.  From  this  pair  I  got  only  one  bird  to  live,  and  this  turned  out  to 
be  the  igo8  Bristol  Bowl  winner.  First  and  Special  Nottingham,  etc.,  and  this  after 
five  consecutive  seasons  with  the  use  of  yellow  blood,  and,  owing  to  the  frequent 
use  of  Lancashire  blood,  plenty  of  substance  retained  to  the  end." 
Mr.  W.  Evins,  of  Evins  Bros.,  of  Exeter,  gives  us  their  methods  of  breeding 
out  faults  which  occur  more  or  less  in  every  stud,  and  incidentally  gives  their 
experience  and  opinion  on  the  question  of  breeding  from  yellows,  which,  by  the 
way,   are   strongly   confirmed    by   the    systematic   practical    experiments  of 
