Looking 
Backward. 
( r 9°) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Looking Backward. 
Rambling Thovights on the Norwich Fancy. 
By C A. HOUSE. 
It is now twenty-seven years ago that 
I exhibited my first Norwich Canary, 
and during the whole of my career as 
an exhibitor, no matter what other 
varieties came and went, I always had 
a, few good Norwich in my bird-room. 
Twenty-seven years is a big slice out of 
one’s life. My connection with the 
Canary fancy commenced whilst I was 
a lad in my teens, at a time when 
Blakston, Barnesby, and Bemrose were 
England’s three great judges. 
The Fountain of Colour. 
Times change and men change with 
them. In those days the Norwich bird 
was a small, smart little fellow, not a 
great deal larger than a gooWsized 
Border Fancy of to-day. My readers 
may judge of what the Norwich birds of 
that time were like, from the fact that 
Lizards and Norwich were very much 
alike in shape and size, and were often 
crossed one with the other to improve 
the colour of the Norwich. In fact, the 
Lizard was the Norwich breeders’ foun¬ 
tain of colour. As the Lizard is now, 
so the Norwich was then a bird of about 
five inches and a quarter in length. 
Now the regulation length is six and 
a half inches, and we have a different 
stamp of bird altogether, stouter and 
fuller, as well as longer. The increase in 
size has brought with it other features 
not so desirable, and the soft, sleek, 
silky jackets which the Norwich of those 
days used to possess are no longer 
with us. 
Ancient and Modern Standards. 
In the days of which I write, forty-five 
points used to be given for colour alone, 
out of the ioo making an ideal bird, 
and as if this were not enough, an addi¬ 
tional twenty were given for extra sheen 
and brilliance. Eight points were 
given for size, and only six for shape. 
A vast difference this to the present day, 
when thirty points go for type, and 
rightly so. Fifteen points used to be 
allowed for condition and quality. 
Now quality is supposed to rank about 
equal with colour. The differences are 
so great that one can scarcely believe 
that a couple of decades should have 
wrought such changes in the popular 
idea of what constitutes a good Norwich 
Plainhead. 
Change not Violent. 
This change of opinion has not been 
caused by any sudden revulsion of feel¬ 
ing. It has been a gradual growth. It 
is now as nearly twenty years since, as 
can be, that we saw the first of the 
large birds in the South of England; he 
came from the stud of one who, in those 
days, turned out many a good Norwich, 
and who, I am pleased to say, is with 
us still, occasionally showing and judg¬ 
ing—Mr. C. E. Silk, of Emsworth. 
This bird was called “ The Wonder,” 
and he was well named, for he did 
indeed make people wonder. I remem¬ 
ber how astonished were Messrs. Jacob 
Mackley and Walter Greaves when they 
saw “ The Wonder ” first, which was at 
Ipswich Show, where my esteemed friend 
Mr. Joseph Bexson had placed him first. 
Mr. Bexson liked large birds, to use his 
own words—“ I like a good big ’un.” 
How often have I heard him use that ex¬ 
pression when some one has been 
criticising his judging. 
The North to the Fore. 
In most forward movements the North 
has taken the lead, and in this question 
of big birds they very soon began to 
give the judges something to look at 
which resembled a cross between a Bull¬ 
finch and a Thrush, that is so far as 
