The Breeding of 
Norwich Canaries. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
03°) 
old. Another thing you will require is green 
food; if you have a bit of garden, sow some let¬ 
tuce-seed early in March, and another lot in 
April; you will then have green food all through 
the summer. Failing this, the young leaves of 
dandelion will do, or watercress; but on. no 
account give the old leaves from the dandelion, 
as they are much too rank for young birds. When 
the young are about fourteen days old it may be 
necessary to remove them, as very often the 
hen bird commences to pluck them for the pur¬ 
pose of lining her new nest: 
The best plan is to have a double breeding- 
cage, with a wire partition at the bottom, 
through which the old birds will feed them; 
failing that, you can place the young in a nur¬ 
sery-cage and hang it on the front over the open 
door. Continue the egg-food to the youngsters 
when they are able to feed themselves, and give 
them a little crushed hemp and canary-seed 
daily. 
Colour-feeding. 
When they are six weeks old, if you wish to 
colour them, do not use “Judson’s Dyes,” or 
more likely than not you will see a disqualified 
card ornamenting your show-cage; but you may 
paint them inside as much as you please. This 
you will do by means of pepper, tasteless or 
pungent, which must be given in small quan¬ 
tities at first, mixing it well with the egg food 
and increasing the quantity ad libitum. About 
this time do not forget the bath, as it enables 
the young birds to cast their feathers freely, and 
helps to put a desired sheen upon their plumage. 
Points of Perfection. 
One of the principal points in a typical Nor¬ 
wich is type ; it should be a short, thick, chubby 
Modern Norwich : a noted prize-winner of the 
present season. 
bird, the chest full and nicely rounded off, the 
flights short and compact, and carried close to 
its body; the tail also short and well folded— 
not at all after the style of the Fantail Pigeon— 
the legs short and fine in appearance and 
quite free from marks, finished off with a nicely- 
rounded head, without the slightest approach to 
a brow over the eyes. I am afraid that the 
craze for size just now is liable to lead us astray 
with regard to the other points I have men¬ 
tioned. Personally, I much prefer a good typi¬ 
cal small bird to a faulty big one. 
And, lastly, you want colour, because at the 
present time 40 points out of 100 are allowed 
for colour. I have already referred to colour¬ 
feeding, but do not want you to run away with 
the idea that all you have to do is to give them 
plenty of pepper. That is a great mistake, 
because unless you have the natural colour to 
start with, you cannot bring it out; consequently, 
you must breed for colour, and the foundation 
for colour is found in the green blood. 
I have much pleasure in illustrating the 
type of Norwich which existed in 1874, thirty- 
three years ago. This bird was a Palace winner, 
and I want you to compare the type of this bird 
with those on the splendid plate which has been 
given with “ Cage Birds ” Palace Show number, 
and if the novices, as well as the old hands, will 
just keep these birds in their mind’s eye, and 
produce this coming season a few similar ones, 
all alive and ablaze with colour, it is possible that 
when the next national show at the Crystal 
Palace comes round one of my present readers 
may carry off the premier honours, and, if so, no 
one will be more pleased than your humble ser¬ 
vant. 
