Wallace (1st Edn)-Belgian Crystal Palace 1874-FSS

Blakston Belgian canaries colour plate-FSS

Dewar 'ideal Belgian' C&CBA 1905.10.20-FSS

Belgian canaries at the Nottingham Poultry Show 1858-FI

Morning Herald 1840.05.18 Mrs Freestone's ad for Belgian canaries-FSS.jpeg

The Old Varieties, Part 3: the Belgian canary in Britain

Posted on 01/02/202630/12/2025 by Huw Evans Leave a comment

In 1853 Robert Wallace visited Joseph Greenwell, a bird dealer in the county of Durham, to purchase his first Belgian canaries (1). He found several ‘old practical hands’ already waiting at Greenwell’s house, and a bidding war ensued as soon as he put the birds on display. The type of bird they wanted was “so […]... Read More

Canarini Gantesi (Cicli-Lancashire.it)-FSS

Dietzsch & Wirsing 1772-77 plate 18 yellow canary-FSS

Bolton canary Harmonia Ruralis (eB prantique-it)-FSS

The Old Varieties, Part 2: the origins of the Belgian canary

Posted on 18/01/202630/12/2025 by Huw Evans 3 Comments

My history of the Belgian canary in Belgium will depart from convention and look at it in reverse order, working my way back from the end of the nineteenth century to its origins in the eighteenth. Why? Because I think it gets more interesting. My starting point is the illustration at the head of this […]... Read More

Market Place Nottm ca 1836 (Welland Antiques)-FSS

Het Handelsblad De Arend show 200 birds 1858.01.30-FSS

De Roode Poort Collectie Archief Gent-FSS

Neuhuys Départ de la Flèche le 5 mai 1835 Wikimedia (BrightRaven0-FSS

Het Zand, St. Jansvliet Antwerp after 1882 (pinterest-Tony)-FI

22 Kleine Turkeije in 2024 (GMaps)-FSS (2)

The Old Varieties, Part 1: canary societies in Belgium

Posted on 04/01/202628/12/2025 by Huw Evans Leave a comment

The history of the canary fancy in Great Britain has been shaped by many people, mostly authors, organisers and famous breeders, yet the man who instigated the biggest advance of all is barely known. He was Mr John Varley, a Nottingham surgeon, whose innovations transformed the avian exhibition world in the mid 1800s. He introduced […]... Read More

Cassino, Part 1: the Associazione Ornitologica Albatros

Posted on 03/01/2024 by Huw Evans 6 Comments

The last World Show I attended was at Matosinhos, Portugal in January 2020. I was there to give the second presentation on the London Fancy in our quest for the breed to be recognised by COM. One of the OMJ assessors came up to me after the presentation and asked if I would like […]... Read More

Mission accomplished: the London Fancy recognised by COM

Posted on 10/12/202214/12/2022 by Huw Evans 15 Comments

I imagine most of my readers will have heard the news that London Fancy canary passed the final examination at the Gouden Ring show last week. The breed has been formally recognised by COM.... Read More

The famous blue and black cages

Posted on 15/02/2022 by Huw Evans 4 Comments

“Having paid my entrance fee I found myself in a very large and well lighted show hall and the sight that met my eyes was one to make my heart miss a beat – rows upon rows of the famous blue and black Lizard show cages!” F.W. Snelling, The Lizard Canary Fancy, March 1956... Read More

PPaillou farmyard scene Burghley House-FSS

PPaillou North Prospect of London taken from the Bowling Green at Islington. John Bowles 1752-FSS

The Nuremberg Lizard, a supplement

Posted on 20/04/202120/04/2021 by Huw Evans 1 Comment

It may be a coincidence, but the last two major discoveries concerning the history of the London Fancy and the Lizard canary have been made by European enthusiasts: Hein van Grouw (Netherlands) and Didier Mervilde (Belgium) in the case of the 1850 London Fancy, and Michael Monthofer (Germany) in the case of the Nuremberg Lizard. […]... Read More

fine spangled sort

The London Fancy and the Lizard canary

History