FEATURE
FIORINO FRILLS
first saw Fiorino canaries whilst judging Fife Fancy in Italy in 2005 and 2006 in Bologna and Rome. I became really taken with them at the 2009 World Show in Piacenza, Italy, where nearly 27,000 exhibits were on show with large classes of Fiorinos. The Fiorino is about the same size as the Fife Fancy, very active and as jaunty as the Fife but with voluminous, silky frills. The added benefit is that you can show these birds in the standard Dewar show cage, so no added expense in purchasing new show cages. Though I think when shown in the frill cage they tend to exhibit more boldly on the top perch. Being a relatively new breed Idecided to do a little research on them and frill canaries in general. For whatever reason frill canaries have never become popular in Britain and did not merit a mention by eminent Victorian writers on the canary fancy, many of whom composed quite comprehensive works on the subject.
I
It is believed that the frill mutation, which affects the formation and the unusual disposition of the feather, is said to have occurred in Holland in the early 1800s.
They were then known as “Dutch canaries” until such time as local varieties were developed around Europe and given separate names, e.g. South Dutch or Parisian Frill. The Fiorino is the youngest member of the frill family of canaries. It was created in Italy in the 1970s around the city of Firenze (Florence) from which it takes its name. Champion breeders began by breeding a small North Dutch frill to a Gloster corona. From these crosses and by the use of inbreeding the new Fiorino frill variety was created. The breed was distributed further to interested breeders and with more inbreeding the curling of the feather and size was improved. In the beginning the Fiorino was a fairly large bird and controversy
BIRD SCENE BIRD SCENE 07
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