352 
Our  Canaries 
out  tapering  effect,  not  having  that  abrupt  finish  at  the  vent  which  gives  a  bad 
effect ;  wings  should  be  of  good  length,  well  carried,  meeting  at  the  tips  resting  on 
a  long  tail,  which  should  be  so  neatly  folded  as  to  have  the  appearance  of  a  pencil. 
It  should  be  free  from  any  signs  of  a  droop  and  be  carried  in  a  direct  line  with  the 
body.  The  breast  should  be  round,  not  too  full,  but  free  from  any  signs  of  a  frill, 
and  should  taper  gradually  away  to  the  vent.  The  bird  should  be  full  of  action 
and  nerve. 
CLIMBING  THE  LADDER. 
"  To  improve  one's  stock,"  he  continues,  "  the  fancier  must  be  prepared 
to  weed  out  unfeelingly  any  bird  which  consistently  produces  faulty  young — his 
favourite  hen,  if  she  persistently  produces  young 
with  drop  tails,  or  an  otherwise  ideal  stock  cock 
whose  progeny  unfailingly  show  too  strongly  the 
bad  effects  of  the  Lancashire  cross,  viz : — those 
heavy  headed,  browy,  sluggish  birds  ;  these  must  be 
discarded.  Every  breeder  in  selecting  his  stock 
should  use  the  greatest  care  and  knowledge  as  to 
the  bird's  ancestry.  Many  a  good  stock  has  been 
almost  ruined  from  insufficient  knowledge  of  the 
ancestry  of  even  one  bird.  We  not  only  want  birds  that  are  possessed  of  the 
good  qualities  I  have  enumerated  in  the  ideal  stock  bird,  but  we  want  those 
good  properties  fixed  in  the  birds  by  their  progenitors.  The  bad  faults  I  have 
just  mentioned  are  the  direct  result  of  the  Lancashire  cross,  and  the  breeder 
must  at  every  opportunity  use  the  only  means  in  his  possession  to  stamp  out 
these  eyesores  in  the  Yorkshire  bird  by  discarding  all  birds  possessing  such 
defects  in  a  marked  degree. 
"  The  breeder  should  not  on  any  account  put  together  a  pair  of  birds  each 
of  which  is  possessed  of  the  same  faults.  For  instance,  if  the  cock  bird  should 
be  faulty  in  head  properties  by  showing  a  tendency  to  be  browy  or  flat  on  head, 
these  faults  should  be  counterbalanced  by  the  good  head  properties  of  the  hen. 
No  matter  how  good  your  birds  may  be  if  they  are  small  they  are  of  little  use  at 
all,  and  are  invariably  hard  to  dispose  of ;  therefore  keep  an  eye  on  the  big  ones. 
This  size  has  been  given  us  by  the  Lancashire  and  is  the  only  recompense 
for  the  many  faults  he  has  left  in  his  train. 
"  In  selecting  the  big  ones,  by  all  means  do  not  sacrifice  much  quality  of 
feather,  for  a  Yorkshire  without  quality  of  feather  is  almost  worthless  no  matter 
how  big  he  may  be.  When  pairing  up  keep  your  eye  on  those  birds  that  are 
possessed  of  a  nervy  disposition  and  that  are  full  of  swaggering  appearance. 
These  are  very  good  traits  given  us  by  the  Belgian  Canary  and  are  a  fine 
compensation  for  the  snaky  head  and  thin  neck,  both  of  which  are  blemishes 
in  the  Yorkshire  bird." 
The  flat  skull  of  the  Lanca- 
shire is  hard  to  breed  out. 
