Our  Canaries 
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faults  and  prominent  good  points  inherited  from  their  parents.  See  that  all  the 
good  points  of  last  season  are  kept ;  bad  ones  discarded  ;  and  any  weakness  made 
strong. 
"  I  prefer  to  mate  yellow  to  buff,"  he  continues,  "  and  have  no  special  liking 
for  either  colour  to  be  in  the  cock  or  hen.  All  that  I  require  is  that  the  cock  is 
sound  in  colour,  tight  in  feather,  ideal  in  size,  and  perfect  in  style  and  action. 
The  hen  must  be  typical  and  well-rounded,  and  her  wing  and  tail  carriage  perfect. 
Type  is  derived  more  from  the  hen's  side  ;  therefore,  if  any  fault,  have  it  on  the 
cock's  side  ;  the  hen  to  be  as  perfect  as  possible. 
DOUBLE    YELLOW    AND  BUFF. 
"  Double-yellowing,  or  double-buffing,  can  be  used  to  advantage,  but  one  must 
know  the  sort  of  bird  to  use  for  each  cross,  otherwise  it  is  dangerous.  The  former 
can  be  used  to  reduce  the  size  of  body,  when  the  neck  is  too  thick,  and  as  a 
colour  producer.  Mate  up  a  fine  sound-coloured  yellow  cock  to  a  nice  lemon- 
coloured  yellow  hen.  Select  the  most  typical  from  this  mating  and  pair  back  the 
usual  way. 
"  Double  -  buffing 
has  a  tendency  to  make 
birds  a  shade  stouter  in 
body,  thick  and  short 
in  neck,andcan  be  used 
to  advantage  to  fix 
quality.  In  this  mating 
I  pay  particular  atten- 
tion to  the  soundness 
-  Various  Sorms  oi  eye -marking. 
01    colour,    the  cock 
having  a  nice  small  head,  nice  and  fine  in  neck  and  quality  of  feather  ;  the 
hen  to  be  level  in  colour,  perfect  in  type,  and  neither  of  them  large — in 
fact  both  undersized  and  from  a  good  strain.  Nothing  can  bring  up  better 
colour  in  yellows.  I  prefer  this  to  any  green  cross  ever  used  as  a  colour 
producer.  You  get  them  far  more  level  in  colour  and  free  from  dark  legs  and 
thighs." 
THE  EVEN-MARKED  BIRD. 
No  variety  of  marking  is  more  difficult  to  produce  and  maintain  than  the 
even-marked.  Unfortunately,  in  former  years,  when  the  variety  was  more 
eagerly  sought  after  than  has  been  the  case  in  recent  years,  it  had  a  very  un- 
enviable reputation  for  being  more  often  the  outcome  of  skilful  manipulation  than 
a  natural  production  of  the  breeder's  art.  In  consequence  the  variety  lost  ground 
and  sank  almost  to  vanishing  point.  In  the  Border  Fancy  it  has  been  revived 
as  a  distinct  class  worthy  of  breeders'  attention,  and  promises  to  become  again 
popular.    But  what  is  an  even-marked  bird  ?    For  the  uninitiated  we  may  point 
