308 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 14, 18G0. 
crown breed, as having some white feathers in the tail,” 
“ having little white spurs ” (claws), by their having more down 
on the belly of a white colour, and these he designates “ Great 
Down Canary birds 5 ” yet he admits “ that there are some Canary 
birds which are of the Copple-erown breed, and yet have none of 
these marks.” And again ho says, “ There are some Canary birds 
who have all the three marks I have spoken of; but one of them is 
sufficient to persuade you that they are of the Cop pie-crown breed.” 
As M. Ilervieux is especially a Crested Canary fancier, and as 
he regards that variety as superior to all, this will be the appro¬ 
priate place to notice his directions for breeding Canaries. 
“ The Certain Method for coupling of Canary Birds, that the 
young may be of beautiful colours. 
“ The more Canary birds have multiplied in this city (Paris), 
and are consequently grown the more common, the more nice 
people are grown as to their colours. Those who ten years ago 
were well pleased with a grey Canary bird of two pistoles price, 
will not be now satisfied with the common Copple-crowns. The 
Ash and Gold-coloured, the Buff and Mottled, are now of little 
value among the curious; they will have their Canary birds as 
pleasing to the eye by their plumage as they are to the ear for 
their sweet warbling. I have therefore here set down how Canary 
birds are to be coupled to expect the young ones more beautiful 
than the old. I begin with the common breeds, and will conclude 
with the most beautiful we have at this time (171S). 
“They who couple a grey cock and a grey hen, which are both 
common, can expect none but a grey breed. 
“The same is to be said of the Ash, Buff, Mottled, and Lemon 
coupled with hens of the samo colour, which cannot produce any 
birds more beautiful than themselves. 
“ But when the different kinds are mixed it falls out better; 
for Nature often delights in producing finer and more beautiful 
birds than was expected. 
“ It is not always requisite to have Copple-erown Canary birds 
in order to make a beautiful breed; but it is enough that they be 
of the Copple-erown breed, for those that come from them are 
often more beautifulthan if they came directly from Copple-crowns. 
“ For instance : A white-tailed grey cock with a rough-footed 
grey hen may produce, besides rough-footed Greys with white 
tails, which are to be expected, of course, 3 ome with Copple- 
crowns often more regular than if they had been bred from ■ 
Copple-crowns. The same may be said of an Ash, Lemon, Buif, 
and Mottled cock, which, being of the Copple-erown breed, and 
that is known by their being rough-footed, or having some white 
feathers in their tails, being coupled with hens of their own kind 
breed beautiful birds and often copple-crowned. 
“ But those who would have still more beautiful Canary birds 
must match them thus :— 
“A cock with an ash-coloured Copple-erown and a Lemon hen 
with a white tail will make a beautiful breed. 
“All Copple-erown cocks with white-tailed hens, except grey 
with white tails, produce very fine birds. 
“They wlio join Copple-erown cocks and hens will have all 
Copple-erown young, though sometimes they happen to be grey; 
and that is because either the dame or the sire of that pair of 
Copple-erown Canary birds was grey. But, in brief, they that 
would have some of that fine breed called the Jonquille with 
black copple-crown, which is at this time reckoned the most 
beautiful and highest-valued sort, must put together a Jonquille, j 
or lemon-coloured Canary bird of the Copple-crown race, and a ] 
Jonquille or Lemon hen. 
“ If you would have more of the yellow and more of the copple- 
crown you must, on the contrary, couple a cock with a black ! 
copple-crown, and a yellow hen with a white tail, which produces 
the beautiful Jonquille; but, that this may succeed the better, 
the yellow hen with a white tail here spoken of must be from 
a Jonquille cock well marked, and from a yellow hen with white 
tail. In a word, this is all that can be done towards producing 
birds of beautiful colours. The young which come from this 
last race I have here spoken of, are more troublesome to rear 
than all other sorts, as being of a very tender constitution.” 
The above is all the information I could gather from M. Her- 
vieux respecting the Crested Canary; but Dr. J. M. Bechstein, 
in his “ Natural History of the Birds of Germany, 1807,” in 
describing the varieties of the Canary bird, considers the Yellow 
or White Canaries with black, greenish, or Isabel-coloured crests 
as very handsome. 
In some parts of Flanders, very handsome varieties of crested 
birds are cultivated ; but I shall write more fully of them in my 
next chapter on Continental Pieds. The breed of Crested 
Canaries is but little cultivated in England—a circumstance I 
regret, as many of them are very handsome, and the crest is in 
itself a property so curious and so very different from the head 
of the common bird, that it deserves more notice. 
The Crested birds in this country are mostly mealy or lemon- 
coloured with grey crests, and this seems the most general colour 
that has any claim to regularity ; but the brighter and richer the 
yellow of the body, and the greater the contrast in the evenly- 
formed and coloured crest, the more they are admired. The only 
objection to the grey crest is their paleness, and that they so often 
moult lighter with age. Whole-coloured, Cinnamon, and Green 
Jonques aro sometimes crested, hut they are not very common. 
There is also some difference in the arrangement of the feathers. 
In some the crests are much fuller and more even than in others. 
M. de Eeuille, a bird-dealer in St. Omer, informed me he once 
had a Cinnamon cock Canary with turned crown, the curl or 
turn of the feathers passing down each side of the neck like the 
chain in a Jacobin Pigeon. 
Several writers on Canaries say it is not advisable to breed from 
two crested birds, because in that case the young ones are fre¬ 
quently bald-lieacled—that is, the centre of the crest is without 
feathers, which greatly spoils the appearance of the bird. In 
some parts of the south of England, a crested variety is bred and 
called, I believe, the Coppy Fancy, or Coppy Birds. These are a 
very large and handsome kind, and appear to be a cross from the 
Belgian Canaries, which they much resemble in their size, length, 
and ujiright carriage. Those exhibited at the Crystal Palace 
Show were whole-coloured, both Jonques and Mealy, the crests 
were very regular and even, but exceedingly flat, and spread over 
beak and eyes, nor did the crests appear raised at all behind, 
giving the bird a very flat-headed look. The longer feathers of 
the sides of the crest half covering the eyes. The birds, of which 
a dozen were exhibited, were very uniform, which indicated 
careful breeding. 
Patchy irregular-pied birds are also to be met with, with crests ; 
but that is no recommendation, as the fancier requires regularity. 
I have heard of one or two talking Canaries, which were 
crested birds. I think some of the performing Canaries are 
crested, and it would he curious to examine if these crested birds 
are more intelligent or tractable than others.—B. P. Brent. 
(To be continued ) 
MARTENS AND BUGS. 
“IIulloa, James ! are you practising a mulligatawny war 
dance or the pose plastique?” “I bin covered with bugs.” 
“Bugs! Now stand still, man. Why, how on earth did these 
vermin get about you ?” “ From that Swaller. It was crawling 
about on the grass unable to fly, and I thought it was numbed 
with cold ; so I put the poor thing in my bosom to warm it, when, 
in a few minutes, I felt such a queer tickling, which caused me to 
look in at my shirt front, and there were the nasty black things 
crawling all about me. I never undressed quicker in my life.” 
At Stanton Lacey, in Shropshire, some years ago, when the 
above memorable circumstance took place, James was mowing 
the lawn in the early morning. As I was dressing, from my 
bedroom window I saw him suddenly dart behind a spreading 
Laurel, and quickly toss off his shirt, continuations, &c., which 
caused mo to expedite my toilet, and soon to appear on the scene, 
where James, with the liveliest action, was intent on ejecting the 
unwelcome guests from his body. 
The “Swaller” was a Marten. I examined the “poor thing,” 
which was in the last throes of death, and it was literally swarming 
with bugs—such a number upon so small an animal concealed 
under its feathers, was quite astonishing—real, black, stinking bugs. 
Putting this and last week’s inquiry about Martens and bugs 
together, there certainly does appear to be some connection 
between them; but how those vermin manage to infest the 
migrators remains to me inexplicable. Martens had built about 
the house ever since it was erected; but never a bug—rarely a 
flea was to be found there. I wonder if those bugs migrated 
and came over with the bird ?—Upwards akd Oitwabds. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Guinea Fowls (A Recent Subscriber ).—They do not scratch, but we do 
not think they would do much good in a kitchen garden. They will find 
out their own roosting-place. They will not thrive in confinement. For 
seven penny postage stamps your can have from our office, “ The Poultry 
Book lor the Many,” which contains an epitome of all that we know about 
their management. 
