Shackleton's Yorkshire Canary - Its Breeding and Management

By Shackleton

This vintage book contains a detailed and comprehensive guide to the Yorkshire Canary, with information on breeding, feeding, housing, and general management. This thorough and accessible guide contains all the information a canary keeper needs to know, and it is highly recommended for prospective and existing owners. The chapters of this book include: “Introduction”, “The Question of Length”, “What Kind of Feather Should a Yorkshire Possess”, “Housing the Stock”, “Pairing and Breeding”, “How to Form a Strain”, “Laying the Foundation”, “The Selection of Stock”, “Colour and How to Obtain It”, etcetera. Many antiquarian books such as this are increasingly hard to come by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on aviculture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473389168

Book preview

CHAPTER I

Introduction

THE Yorkshire of to-day commands the admiration of all who have an eye for the beautiful. It is known as the gentleman of the fancy and well does it deserve this title. Its graceful outline, bold fearless expression, smart dignified movements and soldierly attitude—so dear to the hearts of its devotees—have won for it the premier position in the Canary world.

From whatever aspect one admires this bird of charm, the thought must come to mind of the vast amount of patient care and concentration which has been exercised by generations of breeders in an endeavour to reach perfection. During the last few years, specimens have been exhibited which have approached the ideal; wonderful examples of achievement by skilful and systematic breeding.

To those who elect to take up the fascinating hobby of Canary Breeding as a relaxation from the cares of everyday life, I commend to them the Yorkshire. There is an indefinable something in this hobby which not only affords a breather from the sterner things of life but which acts as a sedative to the mind and a tonic to the system.

It has been said, with much truth, that men who have no hobbies die young; be this as it may, it is a recognised fact that many business men, when withdrawn from their life’s activities, languish and die. Men who live for their work and care for nothing outside it may count themselves happy, and so long as they do not leave that work, may continue to be happy, but what will happen to them when they leave their work or when their work leaves them? The moral is clear.

It is my desire to assist all those who are seeking a hobby and also the younger generation who have already taken up this variety, in order to bring their efforts to a successful issue. I shall endeavour to instruct the inexperienced in the methods and procedure which I adopted and which brought me success throughout my 35 years’ active participation in this fascinating hobby.

If one elects to take up the hobby with a view to becoming a successful breeder and thus gain a reputation on the show bench, an apprenticeship will have to be served before any degree of proficiency can be attained. There is very little magic in becoming a successful exhibitor, although there may be an element of luck.

Now in the breeding of exhibition Yorkshires there is no short cut to success, but a good sound start is a decided step in the right direction.

The beginner should obtain an introduction to a reliable and successful breeder of the variety and obtain matched pairs which in the breeder’s experience are capable of breeding good specimens. Purity of blood is of the utmost importance in the production of high-class stock, hence it will be readily understood that birds which have been bred for generations on a given line must throw nearer to the approved standard than haphazard purchases from various strains.

It must be remembered that all varieties of Canaries are man-made and that there is an inherent tendency for them to revert to their ancestors; it is this tendency which must be counteracted by judicious pairing each successive season.

As there are no two Canaries exactly alike, it becomes the duty of the breeder to exercise his skill in an endeavour to match the points of each bird so that they will hit and thus produce the super specimen.

At all our leading shows extensive classification is provided for this variety and competition is most keen. The demand for surplus stock is steady and constant, good prices being realised for exceptional stock birds and ideal show specimens.

The breed has no inherent weaknesses, is robust and healthy; in fact it might be termed the utility breed and is one that the novice can cultivate with absolute confidence.

In the first place, it is absolutely essential to be able to recognise type—in other words to know instinctively whether a bird conforms to the approved standard. Much, therefore, of the scope of this book is devoted to an explanation of the various points of the perfect bird, so that the second great essential may be achieved—that of immediately spotting the best amongst one’s own breeding and concentrating thereon.

In order that the cardinal points in an exhibition specimen may be mastered, I will set forth the Yorkshire Union Standard Scale of Points. (In giving a number of points to the various items, it is not intended that the judging shall be by points, but as showing the relative value under the various heads):—

CHAPTER II

The Exhibition Yorkshire

OUR frontispiece, and the accompanying illustrations, are drawn from actual living specimens and not from impossible imaginary types which exist only in the minds of the artists. These illustrations are therefore representative reproductions of birds winning on the show bench to-day.

I consider it to be in the best interests of present-day fanciers to portray winning specimens, i.e. life-like drawings of actual birds as are seen to be taking the premier awards at our leading shows to-day, rather than to reproduce the ideal model of the Yorkshire Canary.

I hold the opinion that an ideal is perfect in every particular and that, as an absolutely perfect specimen has never yet been produced, it is not advisable or helpful to illustrate ideals impossible of attainment.

The Yorkshire is a bird of position and it is therefore essential that the outline of the bird should be as near perfection as possible. Nothing detracts so much from its appearance as a bad outline, in fact a deficiency in this respect at once stamps it as a departure from the ideal.

Next to the outline is the important point of the head. A really good, classical head gives its possessor the hallmark of quality and high breeding, and to a Yorkie in particular it is of the utmost importance.

The heads of our models, it will be seen, are neither large nor small, but just the happy medium that so greatly accentuates the other properties of the birds. The eyes are nicely placed: rather bold and expressive, and full of life and vitality. The beak should be of medium length, not too large and in proportion with the head.

The neck, it will be seen, is nicely filled without having a heavy appearance. It is of such a length as to harmonise well with the rest of the bird’s structure. The back is well filled and nicely rounded, and just showing that little shoulder so dear to the heart of the true Yorkshire enthusiast, whilst the wings are of grand length, long and evenly carried; the flights are well braced to the body with no trace of daylight between them and the tail. The breast, nicely rounded and smooth, carries no sign of tubbiness or plumpness.

The waist is long, gradually tapering away behind the legs in wedge shape, thus giving a charming finish to its symmetry. The tail is long, carried perfectly straight in line with the body, fine and well packed or folded. The legs are of nice length, well placed, and with slim thighs; the shanks firm and smooth, the toes fine and flexible, and the claws delicate and not too long, so as to grip the perch well.

If a pencil is placed along the back of the bird from the tail upwards it will be seen that it will miss the back of the head, an essential point in the structure and outline of an outstanding specimen. Finally, the whole position of the bird is erect and firm.

CHAPTER III

The Question of Length

THE question of length is one of the utmost importance and must be carefully considered.

Many years ago, when the rage for length was at its zenith, the Lancashire Plainhead Canary was freely used by breeders to increase the length of the Yorkshire. This cross had the desired effect, so far as length was concerned, but, unfortunately, it carried in its train many objectionable features, such as heavy brows, coarse heads, thick waists, loose feather and hinged tails. Many of the winners at that time were big, long, coarse birds and not representative of the true Yorkshire standard. Judges were not entirely blameless at this period in the craze for length and substance of body.

Members of the Specialist Societies, who were lovers of the beautiful, became most concerned as to the future of the variety, if this mad craze for length continued, and this resulted in the standard length of the Yorkshire being defined as 6 3/4 inches. This timely rule had the effect of reducing that coarseness of body and feather which was becoming so objectionable at that time. Breeders were thenceforth able to concentrate their attention more firmly upon type and quality, with the result that birds of fairly good length with the addition of type and quality were soon being staged.

Up to this point the Yorkshire Canary had undoubtedly benefited by the innovation, but dissatisfaction was soon caused through the rule being taken too literally by some judges, and certain birds were consequently disqualified for supposed over-length. When once a crusade is started it is generally pushed to extremes, as was done in this case, but on the whole there is no doubt that the timely check thus placed upon excessive length has proved of inestimable benefit to our winning birds so far as the texture, quality of feather, and type are concerned.

What is the average length of the winning birds to-day? In point of fact, if they could be correctly measured very few could touch the 6 3/4 in. mark and by far the greater proportion would be 6 1/4 in. to 6 1/2 in. This might be considered by some admirers of the big ones as carrying things to the other extreme with a vengeance! One might quite reasonably ask, To what avail has all the time and care in introducing length into the Yorkshire bird been, when such a system prevails?

The answer to that question is, that the Yorkshire type has been preserved and improved