Gleanings on the 
Yorkshire. 
(51) THE BIRD WORLD. 
type and quality; and by their standard, 
and also the Yorkshire Canary Club’s, 
only 10 points out of 100 are given for 
length. As long as these two societies 
rule the destinies of the Yorkshire 
Canary, I think judges ought not to 
magnify size, especially if at the expense 
of other good points. They should sink 
their own pet prejudices, and judge to 
the standard adopted by such specialist 
societies as these, else what is the use of 
having specialist societies? 
A Debatable Point. 
I do not wish to be misunderstood on 
this point. Personally, I do not object 
to size; but we have the anomaly that 
one judge ignores it, whilst another 
places it almost before anything else. 
Perhaps you may think I should have 
left this point for the critics to decide, 
but I contend, gentlemen, that this is 
a point which is very important to a 
beginner, because he wants to get on the 
right track at the commencement, and 
not get disheartened and discouraged by 
failure. Nothing damps enthusiasm so 
much as to have a real good bird over¬ 
looked by a judge, and an inferior one 
placed above it. Last season I wrote to 
a prominent advertiser of Yorkshires for 
a good show bird. In his reply he 
asked me who was judging, so that he 
could send one likely to suit that judge, 
as the different judges had different 
types which they preferred. This 
opened my eyes, and I found it was so 
at the shows to which I went. But if 
we follow the standards of the two lead¬ 
ing specialist clubs we cannot get far 
wrong. We may now and again be over¬ 
looked, but, on the whole, we will be 
the gainers. 
Dorit Believe Dairy Tales. 
The points connected with pairing 
and breeding Yorkshires have been so 
thoroughly dealt with in the Fancy Press 
recently that it would only be going over 
the same ground again if I were to go 
into it in detail. There is, however, 
one thing I am convinced of, arid that is 
you do not want to believe all the fairy 
tales told that winners won’t breed 
winners; if that were so, at the end of 
each season all the winners would be for 
sale; they would not be wanted for stock 
purposes. But as we read the advertise¬ 
ments, it is the stock birds that are for 
sale. You can easily see why breeders 
say that winners are not bred from 
winners; if they were to say that no one 
would want to buy stock pairs. My 
own plan is to put the birds I consider 
most perfect together, noting where each 
fails, and, if possible, counterbalancing 
its faults in its partner. From these I 
should expect my most perfect young¬ 
sters. 
The Value of Pedigree. 
Then again, I am a great believer in 
pedigree; we cannot always afford to 
buy exhibition specimens for stock pur¬ 
poses. The next best thing is to get 
their brothers and sisters. We have the 
authority of Mr. Crisp, president of the 
Southern Yorkshire Canary Club, 
and one of the most successful 
breeders of Yorkshires in the South 
of England, that show birds are 
invaluable for breeding purposes. If 
any of you who are thinking of 
going in for Yorkshires have the 
chance of a good exhibition specimen at 
a reasonable price my advice is take it, 
get the best mate you can for it, and 
you will not be disappointed. 
Some Sound Advice. 
As good exhibition birds usually 
command big prices, it may not 
be within the reach of all to 
buy a. bird which can win in 
open competition. Then we must go to 
a breeder of repute—not a dealer—and 
get from him the relatives of some birds 
he has bred and won with. This advice 
was given me by a very old breeder of 
another variety of Canary, and I have 
no doubt but that it is sound advice. 
From these you might get a show speci¬ 
men, and if you did that in your first 
season, then you would be amply re¬ 
warded for your trouble, and your foun¬ 
dation as a breeder be firmly laid. 
