Claude St John

Nottm Poultry show 1858 crop-FSS Wallace (1st Edn)-Belgian Crystal Palace 1874-FSS Blakston Belgian canaries colour plate-FSS Dewar 'ideal Belgian' C&CBA 1905.10.20-FSS C&CBL 1905.10.20 Dewar 2 photo-FSS Old and New type Belgian(St John)-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 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
CCSH-Blakston-FSS Postcard of Lizard 1912-FSS Best Lizard 1875 Wallce-FI

Lizard canary basics, part 14: the rise and rise of rowings

Posted on by Huw Evans 12 Comments
Rowing, also known as breastwork, borst tekening, and dessin de la poitrine et flancs (1) has been the rising star in the Lizard’s firmament for as long as I can remember.  Anyone who has studied the Lizard’s ancient history will know that the popularity of rowings has been growing steadily for much longer than that.... Read More
LCA points scale-FI SoP Wallace-FSS L&LCFA SoP-FSS SoP Blakston-FSS SoP minute 9-1945

The curious case of the Lizard’s scales

Posted on by Huw Evans 6 Comments
Not the scales of a lizard, but of the Lizard. The Scale of Points for Lizard Canaries (to give it its official title) has been around for more years than any living person has been breeding them.  It is so well established that we never question its origins and assume things were always so, but […]... Read More
Lizard C&CBL-FI Clear cap guideline-fss Clear cap variations-fss Skull back or base-fss Wallace Lizard 1875-fss Three perfect caps

Lizard canary basics, Part 5: the perfect cap

Posted on by Huw Evans 4 Comments
“Have no fear of perfection; you’ll never reach it”.  Salvador Dali It might seem strange that I should return to the subject of the cap, not long having discussed the various forms of cap in some detail, but that is the nature of the Lizard canary: you can never stop looking and learning.  This time, […]... Read More