Pied greenfinch BPartridge 2-FSS Pied greenfinch BPartridge 1-FSS Pied greenfinch cum LF C&AB 30.08.03-FI

Variegation, part 1: the pied factor

Those of you who have followed the history series will know that, thanks to the illustrations of Marcus Zum Lamm, variegation first appeared in domestic canaries some time around 1580 in Germany. By the turn of the seventeenth century, Hervieux’s list informs us that French canaries were being graded according to their colour and markings […]... Read More
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History, part 16: the colour of money

Have you noticed that whenever people start talking about material possessions, whether they are cars, clothes, houses or high-tech gadgets, it doesn’t take long before the conversation turns to their price.  Whether you’ve found a bargain, are outraged by exorbitant prices, or simply curious about how much things cost, it is the universal method of ascribing […]... Read More
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The fertile hybrid theory: the Serin

If you could go back 300 years to the France of Louis XIV, the Sun King, you would discover that the canary (Serinus canaria) was not called le Canari but le Serin de Canarie (the Serin of the Canaries).  This is the name that Hervieux used to differentiate it from the ordinary Serin (Serinus serinus).  […]... Read More
Cinnamon canaries from Canaries, Hybrids & British Birds-FI Galloway extracts from Appendix-fss Hervieux's list by Galloway-fss Galloway clear siskin mule-fss

History, part 12: Rudolf Galloway’s theory

“It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” – Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia. When Rudolf Galloway began keeping records of his breeding experiments with canaries and British finches in 1891, he was ahead of […]... Read More
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History, part 11: Hervieux’s list

Nouveau traité des serins de Canaries: a small book, you can hold it comfortably in the palm of your hand; leather bound, but otherwise crudely printed; 327 pages (excluding the contents, preface and dedication); three illustrations, but sadly none of the birds themselves.  Nothing special you might think, yet this book propelled the canary into […]... Read More