the gloster fancy canary
The Gloster Canary is a relatively new breed, unlike the older breeds of canary, whose origins are often largely a matter of speculation, the Gloster's development in England in the mid 1920's has been well documented.
The very first steps in the development of the Gloster goes back to the years just after the end of the first world war and can be attributed to a Mrs. Rogerson from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. In 1920 she became very interested in canaries and in particular the Crest and Crest Bred birds, but she disliked their size and uncontrollable feather. It therefore became her mission to breed a canary that was only half the size of the existing Crest and which had a much smaller and neater feather, then such a canary would be far more attractive to look at. Mrs Rogerson chose a few crested Roller canaries and these were paired up to some very small Border canaries.
At about the same time, a Scottish gentleman by the name of John McLay from Kirkintilloch, a well known breeder and judge of Crested canaries started to breed a miniature of the Crested canary. John McLay chose to use his smallest Crests, these were paired up to the smallest Borders that he could obtain.
It is established that the Gloster Fancy Canary is the result of a blending of three different breeds of canary, the Crested Roller, the Border and the Crested canaries. Although it owes its basic genes to the three sources, it has now emerged as a bird quite distinct and different from any of its forebears.
The name of Mrs. Rogerson will forever be associated with this breed. For it was she who first exhibited these small sized, crested canaries at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1925. A leading judge of the time, A. W. Smith, recognised Mrs. Rogerson's original strain as a new, unique, and distinct breed. He saw the potential in them for further development into a distinct breed and went on to encourage the development of the Gloster. He later developed the first breed standards and thought the bird should be known as the Gloster canary, the one which had the crest should be called Corona and the one which had a normal head should be called a Consort.
So a new "Type" canary was born, the Gloster, which has gone from strength to strength on the show bench.
The very first steps in the development of the Gloster goes back to the years just after the end of the first world war and can be attributed to a Mrs. Rogerson from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. In 1920 she became very interested in canaries and in particular the Crest and Crest Bred birds, but she disliked their size and uncontrollable feather. It therefore became her mission to breed a canary that was only half the size of the existing Crest and which had a much smaller and neater feather, then such a canary would be far more attractive to look at. Mrs Rogerson chose a few crested Roller canaries and these were paired up to some very small Border canaries.
At about the same time, a Scottish gentleman by the name of John McLay from Kirkintilloch, a well known breeder and judge of Crested canaries started to breed a miniature of the Crested canary. John McLay chose to use his smallest Crests, these were paired up to the smallest Borders that he could obtain.
It is established that the Gloster Fancy Canary is the result of a blending of three different breeds of canary, the Crested Roller, the Border and the Crested canaries. Although it owes its basic genes to the three sources, it has now emerged as a bird quite distinct and different from any of its forebears.
The name of Mrs. Rogerson will forever be associated with this breed. For it was she who first exhibited these small sized, crested canaries at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1925. A leading judge of the time, A. W. Smith, recognised Mrs. Rogerson's original strain as a new, unique, and distinct breed. He saw the potential in them for further development into a distinct breed and went on to encourage the development of the Gloster. He later developed the first breed standards and thought the bird should be known as the Gloster canary, the one which had the crest should be called Corona and the one which had a normal head should be called a Consort.
So a new "Type" canary was born, the Gloster, which has gone from strength to strength on the show bench.
Gloster Standard
The Standard for the Gloster Canary was agreed upon in the Gloster Convention in England.
It is the standard for breeding and judging the Gloster Canary and is accepted by all Gloster Specialty Clubs.