The Evolution of 
the Canary. 
(104) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
improvement in the breed. The Union had said 
the Yorkshire Canary as it then existed was too 
long-, too stout, and not fine enough in feather, 
and to this all agreed. 
Better still, with one mighty effort all set 
themselves to correct and remove the faults 
which they acknowledged were in existence. In 
a couple of years great improvement was seen 
in the birds which were being shown; they were 
tighter in feather, displayed more nerve, and 
were slimmer and finer in body. Gone were the 
flat skulls with overhanging eyebrows, much 
of the objectionable breast frill had disappeared, 
wings and tails were more tightly braced and 
smartly carried, whilst there was much improve¬ 
ment in the carriage and deportment of the 
bodies. 
Much of this was due to the introduction of 
Belgian blood, which certainly gave finer heads 
and necks and vastly improved the erectness of 
carriage, even as it conduced to the neater 
wings and tails. The Belgian, however, was not 
responsible for all the improvement. The 
lovers of colour and silkiness of feather had 
worked back on to the Cinnamon blood, and 
this was to be seen in the vast increase of birds 
with pink eyes and Cinnamon-marked plumage. 
So numerous did these Cinnamon-marked 
Yorkshires become that in the third year of its 
existence the Yorkshire Union Council had to 
set about the drawing up of a Standard of Per¬ 
fection for Cinnamon Marks, or, as they were 
more generally called at that time, Cinnamon 
Ticks. 
The Defeat of the Giants. 
It is strange how the craze for size will every 
now and then rear its dragon-like head and at¬ 
tempt to dominate all breeds. Here was the 
Yorkshire Canary making rapid progress to¬ 
wards the goal of perfection when the size mania 
again seized some ardent spirits, and so insidi¬ 
ously and swiftly did they accomplish their work 
by production of some large birds of good 
feather, that ere the majority of the breeders 
could think or act these big birds had caught 
the judges’ eyes, captivated their fancy, and 
were securing the bulk of the prizes. The 
Yorkshire Union, however, 
brought matters to a crisis by 
sending forth to the judges 
its ukase that the big ones 
were to be barred. This 
brought about the dismissal 
of the big heavy-feathered 
birds, since when the York¬ 
shire Canary has been bred 
consistently upon better lines, 
and is to-day a better-pro- 
portioned, a finer-feathered 
and a more stylish bird than 
it has ever been since the 
days when it was first divorced 
from its Lancashire pro¬ 
genitors. 
A great factor in this 
has been the establishment 
of the Yorkshire Canary 
Club, which, by its many 
costly specials in kind, its cash 
specials, and its hitherto 
unheard-of valuable challenge 
trophies, has given such an 
impetus to the breeding of 
Yorkshire Canaries through¬ 
out the length and breadth of 
the kingdom that to-day 
I venture to say more birds 
of the variety named after the 
county of cricket and football 
fame are bred in one year 
than a short time back were 
produced in half a decade. 
The establishment of the 
Cinnamon - Marked Canary 
and the Southern Yorkshire 
Canary Clubs has also con¬ 
duced greatly to the breeding 
and popularising of the bird 
of grace and style. 
The Yorkshire Canary of Long Ago. 
A Winner at' the Crystal Palace Show of 1875. 
(Reproduced by the kind permission of Mr. Luke Shaw, of Dewsbury, the nephew of the ExhibitorJ. 
