The Yorkshire Canary. 
(195) THE BIRD WORLD. 
The Yorkshire Canary. 
By H, W. BATTYE 
The following is the opening chapter 
of Mr. Battye’s new book, “ V orkshire 
Canaries,” and its perusal will, we think^ 
cause readers of the Bird Worxi> 
Magazine to seek a closer acquaintance 
with one of the most practical and in¬ 
teresting works ever published on any 
one breed of Canary.—Ed. “B.W.” 
In the writing of this work on the York¬ 
shire Canary, I shall endeavour to in¬ 
terest and instruct, within the limits of 
my knowledge, the younger generation 
of fanciers. Whilst claiming to have 
had an active and fairly lengthy ex¬ 
perience of this variety of the Canary 
family, I have no desire to be considered 
more of an authority than the average 
intelligent breeder of the Yorkshire bird. 
But still, by the many opportunities of 
gaining knowledge and experience that 
have fallen to my lot in the various posi¬ 
tions I have occupied in my own local 
Society, in specialist clubs, in the more 
public position of reporter for a number 
of years, and in the still more public 
and responsible position of judge, I 
should be able to be of some service, 
if not to the experienced fancier, at any 
rate to the young beginner or novice. 
Whilst there is not much that is new 
to lay before the Fancy, there is bound 
to be repetition of what has previously 
been written, yet I cannot see how this 
is to be avoided, as for a number of 
years I have been occasionally writing 
my experiences for the Fancy at large, 
and have very little to add to what 1 
have already made public in the way of 
papers given before various societies and 
articles in Cage Birds. Moreover, I 
cannot claim to be a clever or skilful 
writer, and am not what is considered 
an educated man, and I fully recognise 
my weakness from a literary point of 
view. I, therefore, crave the indulgence 
of my readers for any shortcomings of 
that character, and ask them to credit 
me with the will for the deed, in that 
if I was as able as willing this would be 
as near perfection as possible. In this 
chapter I purpose giving a very brief 
sketch of the history of the Yorkshire 
bird, so far as my own personal re¬ 
collection goes. I may deal more fully 
with the question of the various crosses 
further on in the book. 
A Quarter of a Century Ago. 
We are told by writers of a quarter 
of a century ago, and I see no reason to 
differ from them on this point, that the 
Yorkshire Canary was the joint product 
in the main of the Lancashire Plainhead 
crossed with other varieties. In some 
cases the Belgian, in others the Cin¬ 
namon, and in some instances the Nor¬ 
wich type of Canary was used with the 
Lancashire, just as individual fancy 
dictated, and all these crosses in the 
first instance produced faulty birds, the 
Belgian leaving traces of too much 
prominence of shoulder, thinness in 
neck, and stiltiness of leg. While 
breeders were able by this cross to ob¬ 
tain style, carriage of wings and tail, 
along with slimness of waist and body, 
yet until the negative or bad points 
were bred out, the produce of this cross, 
though graceful and very smart and 
stylish, were not sufficiently straight to 
be considered typical Yorkshires. The 
Lancashire Canary, too, had its faults, 
seeing that though a much straighter 
bird there were, perhaps, on the whole, 
as many or more faults on its side as the 
Belgian, viz., coarse head, heavy eye¬ 
lash, or browing, thick bulky neck, 
strong thick legs, and bad wing carriage, 
as well as a superabundance of long and 
rather coarse feather, which resulted in 
frilled chests and feathery thighs. These 
faults being so pronounced that the 
crossing with other varieties named failed 
to counteract them, and the result was 
