ON BREEDING HYBRIDS. 
59 
CHAPTER XI. 
ON BREEDING HYBRIDS. 
So far I have said nothing about Mule-breeding — one of the 
most fascinating and disappointing amusements in which the avicul- 
turist can indulge. It is interesting, because there is always the 
possibility of a good result, always the chance of producing 
something interesting, if not actually new ; it is disappointing, 
because the failures are the rule, the successes the exception. 
The easiest Mules to produce are those in which a hen Canary 
is selected as the mother and a British Finch, not very distantly 
related to it, as the father. Thus, to breed some sort of Goldfinch 
or Linnet Canary Mules is almost as easy as breeding pure Canaries. 
I succeeded in producing both at my first attempt ; but to breed 
Mules of these two types which will win on the show bench is 
quite another matter.* 
When less closely -related Finches are paired with a hen Canary, 
tho difficulty in producing Mules is generally increased ; yet, 
strangely enough, that between the Greenfinch and Canary is an 
exception. This, and the fact that the Japanese Greenfinch crosses 
freely with the European Goldfinch, makes one wonder whether tho 
sub-family distinction of the Grosbeaks and typical Finches is not 
purely an i#tificial one, and whether the Greenfinches, in spite of 
their huge beaks, are not related to the Goldfinches. 
The most typical Finches — that is to say, tho Chaffinches and 
Brambling — being far more insectivorous than the Serin group (to 
which the Canary belongs), are naturally very difficult birds to 
produce Mules from when paired with the latter. Nearly every 
year now somebody writes to say that ho has successfully produced 
the coveted hybrid ; yet whenever an expert breeder of Mules 
examines the latter, it is invariably pronounced a chimera — either 
a Greenfinch-Canary, a pied Canary, or something equally common. 
When a Chaffinch takes a fancy to a hen Canary he is just as 
attentive to her as though ho were her natural mate, feeding her 
frequently from the crop exactly as a cock Canary would do ; but, 
in a flight-cage, he eats her eggs as she lays them, so that it is 
necessary to remove them. Why the eggs should so often bo clear 
I do not understand, for tho Chaffinch pairs readily enough with a 
Canary, but it is certain that they are. 
There appears to bo much the same difficulty when a Bunting — ■ 
as, for instance, our Yellowhammer — is paired with a Canary. I 
tried crossing the Indigo Bunting and Canary, both in flight-cage 
* Those who desire to succeed in this had better consult Mr. Vale’s 
excellent little book, procurable from this office for Is Id. 
