Mule Breeding Canaries and Finches - Breeding Hybrids for Appearance and Song , livre ebook

Read Books Ltd. - Robert L. Wallace

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16 pages

English

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This vintage book contains a concise guide to mule-breeding canaries and finches, with a specific focus on breeding for appearance and song. This volume contains all the information an existing or prospective breeder might need to know on the subject, and it would make for a useful addition to collections of aviculture literature. The chapters of this book include: “Uncertainties of Mule Breeding”, “Good Mules”, “Influence of Parents on the Progeny”, “Goldfinch and Canary Mules”, “Sib-Bred Birds”, “Cheverell and Pea-throat Goldfinches”, “Canaries for Mule-Breeding”, “Double-Yellows”, “Double-Buffs”, 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.

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	14 novembre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781447481034
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Mule Breeding Canaries and Finches
Breeding Hybrids for Appearance and Song
By
Robert L. Wallace
Copyright 2011 Read Books Ltd. This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Mule Breeding
M ULE B REEDING .
A MONG the many pleasures to be derived by bird-fanciers from breeding birds, there is none which affords such an amount of pleasure, instruction, and amusement, as mule breeding; that is, provided good specimens of the hybrids are obtained. Herein lies the difficulty, but when once it has been surmounted, a full reward for all past labours, perseverance, and patience is reaped.
U NCERTAINTIES OF M ULE B REEDING .-It is a well-known fact that many men have bred mules for a great number of years, between the goldfinch and the canary, and likewise between the linnet ( Fringilla Linota , Linn.)-commonly known as the grey or brown linnet-and canary, and have never once succeeded in producing a single specimen worth 5s.; whilst others, who have only been recognised as fanciers but a short time, comparatively speaking, have managed to obtain birds worth as many pounds sterling each, and no doubt a great deal of this success depends upon intelligence and observation.
G OOD M ULES .-Up to within a very recent period, any fancier who happened to produce a good specimen of a lightly-marked mule was looked upon as either an exceedingly fortunate individual, or a man that really knew something-a sort of seer in birdology. No doubt, solitary instances are on record of persons having bred a good specimen, as it were by mere accident, that is, at a first attempt; whilst others, as I have before stated, have bred mules for many years or, as I have frequently heard it expressed, all their lives, and never were fortunate enough to get anything worth looking at.
I NFLUENCE OF P ARENTS ON THE P ROGENY .-There are a great many theories in vogue as to how good mules are produced, especially goldfinch mules; and I have heard fanciers express a very decided opinion to the effect that it was attributable to breeding with a particular kind of goldfinch, whilst others as implicitly believe that the description of the finch has nothing whatever to do with the result. One thing, however, is pretty certain, and that is, that when a hen has been found to breed pied mules with regularity, her offspring may be relied upon, as a rule, to do the same thing. This being an established fact, any man who is in possession of a well-known hen of this description is almost certain to be besieged with applications for young hens bred from her; and fabulous prices have occasionally been paid for them. Fanciers who are in possession of the genuine type of birds for producing prize mules can seldom be induced to part with them, and I have known what I should consider most tempting offers to purchase blankly refused.
All those who are genuine admirers of our feathered favourites, and have been in any way associated with the fancy during the last twenty-five or thirty years, must have a vivid recollection of the names of some of our most famous mule breeders. I refer to breeders of birds which have obtained great celebrity, such as Lenny Moore, Tempest, Robson, Brent, and many others, and not the mere exhibitors; as it is now notorious that a number of our largest and most successful exhibitors very rarely breed a single specimen of the birds they show, they being simply the purchasers, and, consequently the possessors of the birds. Of course, there are some exceptions, but this rule applies pretty generally.
G OLDFINCH AND C ANARY M ULES .-When commencing to breed mules, my advice is, confine yourself to those obtained between the goldfinch and canary, linnet and canary, or goldfinch and bullfinch, as they are best calculated to reward you pecuniarily for the trials and disappointments which are almost certain to beset you at the beginning; but you must persevere, and if my instructions are strictly followed, I have every confidence that your labours will terminate satisfactorily. Other kinds of mules can be obtained, such as siskin and canary, bullfinch and greenfinch, c., but of these I will treat more particularly under their respective headings.
The goldfinch and canary undoubtedly produce by far the most beautiful of all the canary hybrids, as such variety and diversity of colour and markings are obtained as cannot be had by any other cross. The first thing to be aimed at is to get a strain of canary hens that can be relied upon to breed marked mules, as it is beyond dispute that the majority of hens chosen at random, or even selected, as they sometimes are, by breeders who imagine that they know a thing or two, very seldom produce the merest semblance of a pied bird, although they have tried season after season with hens of totally different strains. When first I commenced to breed mules, which is a good many years ago, I began, like a great many more fanciers, with no more idea of anything further being required than simply to place a male goldfinch and female canary together in a breeding-cage, give them a nest, and await the result. Experience has taught me very different. After breeding mules for several years, with no better success than, as a mortified old fancier illnaturedly observed, getting a houseful of sparrows -for such are dark mules sometimes designated-I began to turn my attention to the subject more closely.
S IB-BRED B IRDS .-Having determined to enquire into this subject, I paid a visit to a person who had obtained considerable notoriety in his neighbourhood among the fancy, from the fact of his having bred, during the previous five or six years, two or three very good goldfinch and canary mules. He was a carpenter by trade, and I found him shrewd and intelligent, and inclined to be communicative. As a matter of course, I asked him the usual thousand and one questions, but all the information of a practical character that I was enabled to obtain from him was that all his canary hens used for this purpose were of So-and-so s celebrated strain. I visited another and another, with a like result, and not being satisfied I determined to visit Mr. So-and-so himself. This gentleman was none other than a knight of the shovel and pick; or, to speak more plainly, a pitman, or hewer of black diamonds. This individual 1 found to be exceedingly reserved, cautious, suspicious, and cunning in his manner. When I began to question him as to how he managed to obtain the hens that had bred him such excellent mules, he was very mysterious in his demeanour, and his answers were given after considerable deliberation on his part.

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