A Competition 
Essay. 
(14) THE BIRD WORLD. 
meaning is that a fancier should use his 
business life as an example for the 
management of his bird room. For 
instance, if we turned up at our work 
one morning punctual, the next day not 
at all, and the next in the afternoon, we 
should quickly find our employers would 
dispense with such erratic service. 
Whereas we do, or the majority of us 
do, go about our daily routine of work 
without in any way noticing it. 
Avenues to Success. 
The modes of pairing, the eventuali¬ 
ties that are likely to arise in different 
varieties have been so thrashed out from 
time to time that it becomes difficult to 
advocate any sure and short road in 
breeding show specimens. Like our¬ 
selves, in everyday life, the fancier who 
is gifted with keen intellect in the re¬ 
quired direction, and who, with that in¬ 
tellect, gives application, stands a very 
good chance of producing the bird to 
catch the judge’s eye. We are told that 
brains, economic conditions, and money 
play a great part in the success of fan¬ 
ciers to-day; that they do is, to a great 
extent, true. A man may be gifted with 
the highest intellectual powers; he may 
have a superabundance of brains that are 
of the greatest possible use to him in 
other branches; but put him to breed 
exhibition Canaries, and he is the 
greatest duffer out unless he has the 
natural aptitude and the love of his sub¬ 
ject. Brains in this case would play a 
very subordinate part, and would quickly 
put a fancier of this description on the 
same level as the ordinary hard-working¬ 
man fancier who has natural ability, 
combined with the love of his subject. 
Economic Conditions. 
The same with economic conditions. 
I know, and can give instances, of work¬ 
ing-men fanciers who have, and do, 
practise great acts of self-sacrifice and 
denial, who are overburdened with heavy 
rents, and still at the same time exhibit 
the utmost enthusiasm for their hobby. 
Economic conditions play a part, it is 
true, probably stifle a working-man’s out¬ 
lay in procuring fresh stock, etc.; but 
to say that economic conditions curtail 
the average of producing show specimens 
is purely a matter of conjecture. No 
proof can, or has, so far as I am aware, 
been brought forward to substantiate it. 
Again, money is not a blessing in every 
case. A man may find, and at the cost 
of bitter experience, that for all his out¬ 
lay he has not nearly approached the 
standard of certainty in-producing exhi¬ 
bition specimens as his brother fancier of 
less wealth. Discrimination must be 
used in the process of selection, and 
after the birds have been purchased the 
proper management of them must be 
carefully attended to. I would advise 
fanciers to give their subject all the time 
and attention possible, to be as broad¬ 
minded as possible, and, as far as their 
time and pocket will allow, to visit the 
best shows in their locality. We are 
told the novice is the backbone of the 
Fancy. With this theory I must agree, 
as every fancier must have, at some time 
of his career, been in the ranks of the 
novices. At the same time I think 
credit is not sufficiently given to the ex¬ 
hibiting fancier. If it were not for him 
the Fancy would soon die out, or, at any 
rate, greatly recede. Honour and credit 
are due to the man who is willing to 
risk his specimens long journeys, and 
devote his time to a subject which is 
not only elevating, but also, in the 
highest degree, instructive. All who 
have not bred for show I would heartily 
advise to do so, as in a sense it is a 
sport. We experience uncertainties, and 
enjoy at times success. In our struggles 
we all unconsciously better our natures. 
They teach us to survive and to over¬ 
come trials and disappointments of our 
domestic life. At least, that has been 
my experience. 
