334 
Our  Canaries 
good  rise  above  the  eye,  the  eye  to  be  bold  and  well  set,  her  neck  full,  chest  nicely 
rounded  with  a  good  broad  back  not  flat  but  inclined  to  be  round,  wings  nicely 
tucked  up,  and  as  short  in  tail  as  possible,  with  no  inclination  to  droop.  I  prefer 
to  run  one  cock  with  two  hens  unless  the  cock  is  a  good  feeder  and  does  not  dis- 
turb the  hen  whilst  sitting.  When  pairing  up  my  birds,  I  pair  a  yellow  cock  to  a 
buff  hen,  or  vice  versa,  but  I  do  not  make  this  a  hard  and  fast  rule.  If  I  find  my 
birds  inclined  to  run  weak  in  head  I  resort  to  double-buffing  by  pairing  a  good 
sized  cock,  extra  round  in  head  and  short  in  feather,  to  my  most  typical  buff  hen. 
In  this  way  I  get  young  of  good  size  with  plenty  of  head,  showing  an  abundance 
of  cheek,  with  good  necks.  In  double-buffing,  one  has  to  be  careful,  and  I  like 
both  cock  and  hen  to  be  bred  from  yellow  cocks.  Birds  bred  by  this  method  of 
pairing  have  won  the  highest  honours  on  the  show  bench,  and  others  have  been 
the  best  stock  birds  I  ever  possessed." 
CROSSES  TO  AVOID. 
Of  the  many  methods  adopted  to  improve  failing  size  and  colour  in  the  stock 
the  concensus  of  opinion  among  the  most  experienced  aud  successful  breeders  is 
that  outside  crosses  are  neither  necessary  nor  advisable,  and  that  the  requisite 
material  may  always  be  discovered  among  pure  bred  birds.  On  this  question  Mr. 
J.  Houghton,  of  Gloucester,  remarks  : — "  If  the  birds  were  lacking  in  size  I  should 
introduce  the  offspring  of  double-buffs,  as  you  get  more  size  into  the  buffs  and 
also  increase  the  meal  on  the  plumage,  which  is  a  great  feature  in  buffs.  I  should 
not  introduce  a  cross  of  the  Lancashire  or  Crest-bred,  as  it  takes  three  or  four 
years  of  judicious  mating  to  breed  it  out  again,  which  is  a  roundabout  way  of 
reaching  a  result  which  could  be  attained  in  one  season.  But  if  they  fail  in  colour 
I  should  double-yellow — one  of  the  birds  must  be  a  green,  and  both  should  be  soft 
in  feather.  I  have  double-yellowed  and  buffed  with  no  small  success.  I  should 
not  introduce  the  Cinnamon  or  Lizard  blood,  as  neither  has  more  depth  of  colour 
than  a  good  Norwich,  and  you  are  only  losing  size  again."  A  useful  tip  to  novice 
exhibitors  is  given  in  Mr.  Houghton's  closing  sentences.  "  If  you  have  a  good  bird 
you  are  going  to  exhibit,"  he  says,  "  first  see  that  the  claws  are  short,  as  sometimes 
a  bird  gets  over-grown  claws  and  cannot  travel  the  perches  freely,  and  thereby 
loses  a  chance.  Next  see  if  the  beak  wants  trimming,  as  sometimes  the  tip  of  the 
upper  mandible  gets  overgrown,  and  gives  the  bird  the  appearance  of  being  long  in 
beak,  which  is  a  bad  point  in  a  Norwich." 
THE  LIZARD  CROSS. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  here  another  view  of  the  use  of  the  Lizard  cross  for 
increasing  colour,  which  is  the  experience  of  Mr.  W.  Bowyer,  of  Leek.  He 
writes  : — "  The  best  colour  in  greens  for  crossing  purposes  is  the  bright  green 
usually  got  from  a  cinnamon  cross.  But  the  best  cross  I  ever  experimented  with 
was  the  Lizard.  We  used  to  cross  with  the  Lizard  years  ago,  when  it  was 
principally  a  matter  of  having  colour,  quality  and  condition  to  get  to  the  front. 
