ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 282, 18 February 1928, Page 26

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Inquirer, New Lynn.—(l) The Auckland Yorkshire Canary Club. (2) Ticked. A bird which has more or lew dark colour in its plumage, yet is neither marked nor variegated It is not always an easy matter for a novice to tell to which class a bird

belongs, as a ticked bird may possess more dark plumage that a lightly variegated one. In Yorkshire canaries a bird which has only one dark patch is a “ticked” bird, even if thk dark patch is in a place technically called a “mark,” i.e., on eye, wing, or tail, and this one tick may "be of any size. In Norwich canaries a tick nust not be larger than a sixpenny pie**or the bird becomes either a “marked” or a “variegated” according to whether the patch constitutes a technical mark or is on some other part of the body. N.B. —These are the definition* of the English specialist clubs governing the two breeds. Some day, we hope, they will be universally adopted in New Zealand. M.M., Mount Albert.—That lack of shell-forming material is the cause is perfectly true up to a point, for the eggs are produced without shell. if the preceding egg and the following after egg are perfectly shelled this contention scarcely holds good. breeder knows that very frequently tha bird that laid the shell-less egg** night laid a shelled one during th# same day. The yoke, in Its travel* down the oviduct, eventually reacbe* a certain length, during which It reposes while the lime-secreting glands pour forth the secretion that will oaf* den into a perfect shell. should leave this tract of the oviduct before the process is complete I* * case for investigation. In the majority of cases the egg enters Ihe section afternoon or evening before the egg** laid, and remains inside until the next day, when it is eventually laid. would s<i?m that the egg, having onereached this tract, cannot ren VL. there, because the following egg ripened and gone through all the pro* cesses so quickly that the second cgs» by its weight pressing on the egg * ready in the tract, causes the raus«e» of the oviduct to exert the effort to expel the unfinished egg ■ following egg, then entering the trac*. is normally shelled The ing appears to be due to vanatio®* feeding. It is perfectly easy to cau an epidemic of shell-less e &£ s ' «« your case we feel sure the ca chiefly due to over-fatness, ana would advise you to discontinue x noon-day feed for a while. tJjer the maize, while the warm * continues.