What is an The Village American Singer Canary? Aviaries by John V. Bassett, Jr. Official American Singer Judge Westminster, MO In accordance with the Constitution own or no standard will NOT be judged and By-laws of the American Singers but will be marked NOT AS." I don't Club, Inc., the American Singer Canary know of any judge who is acrually follow­ is a standardized breed. It states, "Many ing this to the letter, possibly because it have called their birds American Singers is very ambiguous and partly because but only birds bred by our plan are Gen­ they don't want to drastically reduce the uine American Singers." Simpl y because AS entries. But I do feel in any case a canary is wearing an AS band does where a bird definitely shows either NOT make ir an American Singer visually that it has a background other Canary. The definition of an American than that called for in our plan, or if Babe and Bill Mackey Singer Canary as given in the Constitu­ audibly, the foundation song is definite­ Cockatiels • Parakeets tion and By-laws srates, "The American Iy not a blend of the Border and Roller Lovebirds • Eng. Budgies Singer Canary is a Song Type Canary songs, the bird should either be marked Finches • Cockatoos bred in the U.S. by a systematic plan, OT AS, as called for in Article Xl, Sec. 4, or they could apply S.15 in Chapter 11 specializing in known as the blending of Roller to Border Fancy over a period of years to which states that the song value is NIL Grass keets • Lories provide a Canary bird that has, (1) an (O).lf it is not American singer song and We buy and sell outstanding free harmonius song pleas­ the bird should also receive a very low wholesale ing to the ear, neither toO loud or too score under Conformation, as S.8, P.O. Box 2467 harsh, with plenty of variety, (2) a Chapter 11 states' 'anything contrary to Vista, California 92083 beautiful shape or type, not over 5 3/4 the MODEL means faults can be deduct­ inches long with tight feathers that will ed, not just those faults called out on the (714) 727-0898 please the average home lover of score sheet. The faults called out on the Canaries." Under the breeding standard score sheet are only for those birds which it also goes on to state that a Siskin­ were bred according to the plan and, Roller cross beyond the hybrid state can therefore, wzfl at least resemble the Model. Some birds I have seen entered as )<,' be bred to the Border if a strain of R.F. American Singers is desired. But it also AS in the last few years only resemble the ft'r:~ wffawr f7Io","1YTj'7P' "i"," states the prescribed systematic plan Model in that they have one head, rwo must be followed from that point on in wings, a tail, twO feet and feathers. In order to produce Genuine American my personal opinion, if a bird does not Singers. even remotely resemble the Model, it Now, before going any further, let's should be given a Conformation score of see exactly what this means. No matter Zero and not a score of approximately how you read it, a Genuine American 15, as this rule has lead some people to Singer Canary will contain the genes of believe is the minimum Conformation only two canary backgrounds - Border score they should receive, no matter what Fancy Canary and Roller Canary. If it is a the bird look like. Red Factor American Singer, it will also Now, let'S go ro the Foundation Song. f contain Siskin related genes. This means I was surprised to find that many that if the genetic background contains American Singer breeders are not aware Yorkshire, Norwich, Lizard, Hartz, of the basic difference between a Border , i Waterslager, Gloster or any other breed Fancy's song and a Roller's song. I think /.'. of Canary, the bird is NOT a Genuine all knew that a Border Fancy sang chop­ American Singer Canary, regardless of per song consisting mainly of chop notes the band it is wearing on its leg. Too and, hopefully, some warbling notes. many people assume that if a bird is That much is true, BUT that's only half banded with an AS band, that the bird is the story. The Border Fancy also sings his a Genuine American Singer. In 6B it song "open noted." That is with his cockatoos, plainly states that birds are only Genuine beak open wide. The Roller, on the other macaws, etc . American Singers provided our plan is hand, sings rours or groups of notes in a realistic prices followed. If our American SingerJudges muted song which is sung "closed appointment please (including myself) were following Article noted. " That means his song is sung 408-336-2442 XI, Sec. 4, to the letter, a good many of almost entirely with his beak nearly shut. serious inquiries only the birds entered in the AS Sections Now let's think about what happens would be automatically disqualified. It when we genetically blend these songs. states, "Birds having a standard of their The Border song is almost entirely due ro 22 genetics, while the Roller song is 75 % to 80% due to genetics, with the balance being a learned song from Tutor birds, which is why Roller breeders do not want Here are any males around their young birds which sing notes, which are faults in four good reasons Roller song. This means that a Genuine American Singer will sing a foundation song which contains a percentage of to join the chopper song (open notes), that is in­ herited from the Border Fancy and a AviculturalBook Club™ percentage of Roller song (closed notes) P.O. Box 108 Ozone Park, New York 11417 inherited from the Roller, plus what it has learned from Tutor birds, which may 1. BARGAINS-Big discounts off publishers' prices, premium be wild bird notes. I know many of you books and other special discounts and offers for club have heard Canaries which have crow or members. catbird notes and I think you will agree that these do not add value to the song, 2. SELECTION-Expertly-selected books for every avicultural while Cardinal notes and some of the interest and level of knowledge-from books for young readers other wild bird notes will improve the to veterinary textbooks-from Arco, Blandford Press, British song in many, but not all, cases. When a Museum, Cornell University Press, Crown, David & Charles, judge is evaluating the American Singer Howell, Lea & Febiger, Saiga, Sterling and many other song, he or she will not only listen to the publishers. song, but also watch the beak to see how it is sung because, as I stated earlier, a 3. INFORMATION-Three to four, completely revised and Genuine American Singer will sing both illustrated catalogs per year, describing books in detail­ open notes and closed notes. G.32 states contents, reviewers' opinions, physical dimensions, etc. the song will be faulted if there is too 4. MINIMAL OBLIGATIONS-To join the Avicultural Book much of either type song. Club' you simply pledge to purchase at least one book (your The next item I found many breeders did not fully understand is what' 'varie­ choice) from every catalog, i.e., three to four books per year. ty" means in the American Singer song. "Variety" is determined basically in two For dozens of other good reasons, send for the latest Avicultural ways-fIrst, the number of different Book Club" catalog today! The catalog is free and there is no notes or tours he sings and, secondly, but obligation to join. equally imponant, the order in which he sings them. To more fully explain this, a canary may sing a long song which con­ Yes! Please send me your next Avicultural Book Club' tains a number of different notes, or catalog and complete membership details. tours-so you might say he has a good variety of notes in his song. But, if he My main avian interests include: (please check all sings exactly the same song over and over applicable boxes) in the same order, he nullifIes the variety Dparrots, large hookbills Dlories Dlovebirds because although, as in individual song, it would score high, it becomes a Dcockatiels Dbudgerigars Dfinches Dcanaries repetitious song, which scores lower. Dsoftbills Dpigeons and doves ... Dgamebirds, waterfowl Therefore, a bird which might have a . .. Dbirds as pets ... Dnative birds ... Dother: lesser variety of notes and tours but sings ___________ (please specify). them in a different order each time, could score just as high in variety. In Name . _ other words, "variety" is scored on the (please print clearly) overall song rather than on any single Street _ song. If the judge only hears and sees the bird sing a couple of times, it cannot, in City _ all fairness, be given a high song score because the judge does not know if the bird sings a repetitive song or not. State Zip _ Another point that seems to be con­ fusing to many people is whether or not mail to: songs sung on the floor of the cage or behind the cups or on the lower perch Avicultural Book Club® should be counted for full value, or even P.O. Box 108 at all. Let's see what our standard says: In Ozone Park, New York 11417 the fIrst paragraph ofChapter 4 it states, "Type birds must be trained to stage in position in their show cages.