The event will take place from 27th May – 2nd June 2011 in Canberra, New South Wales, Australia and is being hosted by the Budgerigar Society of NSW Inc.

The event features:

• A two day show
• Tours to some of the unique highlights of Australia’s national capital and surrounds
• Seminars & lectures from international breeders
• The annual meeting of the World Budgerigar Organisation (WBO)

To find out more, please click on the images below – clicking on an image will open/download the PDF file containing the information.

Budgerigar.co.uk has received the following request from Dr Marc A. Noakes. Marc is an experienced geneticist who is researching the yellowfaced factor – and would like your help!

Here is his appeal – please help him if you can.

Dear All,

I am a friend of Ron Hunt (Australian national budgerigar judge) in Sydney, and an honorary member of the Australian Pied Budgerigar Society. I am also a molecular geneticist turned school teacher with a PhD in genetics. I have resumed breding budgerigars and zebra finches after several years absence in America (Washington State University) doing postdoctoral research on multiallelic, immunological and sex genes in salmon and trout.

I grew up in the Macarthur budgerigar club with Ron and have been involved in budgerigar breeding for about 30 years now. I breed birds to satisfy personal and research interests in the conservation of antique mutations and varieties, as well as to help my fellow breeders of budgerigars and zebra finches better understand the mechanisms of inheritance and small population management, including conservation.

The Budgerigar Society of NSW (BSNSW) has approached me to help clarify the present confusion in yellowface inheritance. I understand Peter Bergman’s 5 allele model and I am very familiar with multidomain proteins including heterodimers. However, Peter’s description of that model is incomplete and thus confusing. I am trying to simplify/clarify the model with the aim of making it more accessible to the general enthusiast who has a basic understanding of inheritance. This includes clarifying the relationship between the lemon/cream face mutation and the yellow/golden face mutation.

I am seeking clubs or individuals who are willing to provide information in the form of photographs, descriptions, annotations and breeding results.

If you are able to help, please download and read the “How to Help” PDF document. Then, e-mail me at the address below, or consider joining my Yahoo! group as this will make communication easier. Also, if you know someone (or another club/society) who would be interested in helping out can you please forward this message to them. In return I am happy to provide participants with copies of the survey findings.

I look forward your reply.

Sincerely

Dr Marc A. Noakes
Science Department
John Therry Catholic High School

If you can help, please read the “How To Help” document and contact Marc as follows:

This original version, now edited for international appreciation, was written by Rod Skivington and is reproduced with his kind permission and acknowledgement to the The Budgerigar Council of Victoria Inc.

GSB

Introduction by GSB

This is the second of a two part profile of the Sheppard & Flanagan partnership – one of a group of important studs that now exist in Australia. Part one introducd Bruce Sheppard and Colin Flanagan and described how the partnership was formed. Part two gives an insight into the breeding methods employed by this highly successful duo, and asks them for their comments on the Australian show scene.

Well-designed Birdroom and Aviaries are essential

There are literally a hundred matters to consider when constructing a birdroom and aviary.

Bruce and Colin have gone down different paths here – Bruce has changed little of the birdroom over the last thirty years, whilst Colin has relocated many times due to work commitments and has been continually building new birdrooms and aviaries every time he relocated.

They both said the key considerations are:

• Face aviaries eastwards, so that birds can capture the morning sun daily
• Insulate the birdroom against both the summer heat and the winter cold
• Clear roof panels can be painted white to reflect the heat and still allow light in, this has significantly reduced the sun from heating up the birdroom
• It is essential that a birdroom has good ventilation
• Aviary floors must never be permitted to get wet, they must remain dry
• Aviary lofts are a great way to feed vegetable and citrus foods that are damp and will be discarded and fall outside and not mix with droppings, this is now a common design feature for all of their aviaries
• Take care in the birdroom layout to enure efficient daily routines, otherwise the routine will take time away from your birds and desire to improve the stud
• Fresh and clean drinking water must be convenient
• Cages and breeding boxes must be large and well ventilated
• Extending daylight utilising timers is essential for both the birds and the carer
• Provide a 24 hour night light (15W pilot lamp) allowing birds to find the breeding box if disturbed at night
• A radio that provides a constant background of noise so that other bumps in the night are less of a threat
• A well sealed birdroom will prevent mice from disrupting the breeding season and seed storage must be kept clear of fouling from mice etc.
• Hawks need to be kept from the outside wire, this can be easily achieved with shade cloth
• Vacuum aviaries weekly and clean birdroom floors daily to keep the dust down
• Water and seed daily

Feeding and Maintaining our Birds is critical

Feeding of quality budgerigars is a science according to Bruce and Colin, they both have a strong ethic in this area which has been developed over decades, and they expect that their programs will continue to develop as more is understood.

• Seed – Golden Cob Premium Budgie, daily
• A large variety of other seeds are provided on a regular basis
• Multi vitamins are a regular additive
• Softfood is not fed
• A wide range of vegetables and fruits are fed on a regular basis, offering something daily
• Clean water daily or more often in the summer months, Bruce prefers large drinkers in the loft, while Colin prefers large glass bowls on the floor

The Breeding Season

Management of the pairs during breeding season is very important if you are to maximise your opportunities and in turn produce more and more each season.

• Bruce and Colin refer to themselves as traditional breeders, that is they pair up on the Queens Birthday weekend in June, take two rounds, and in turn empty and clean out the birdroom by the Christmas break
• Checking pairs twice a day is a minimum during the Breeding season
• Establishing foster pairs early, when you recognise some pairs are not feeding well enough, or too many chicks in the same nest the same age, or more than 4 chicks per pair, you need to start moving chicks to save them don’t hesitate
• A strong culture of accurate record keeping is essential
• You must repeat the same pairing each year if they continue to breed you great chicks or even a National winner each time, it may seem simple enough, but many breeders feel they can do better and change the pair!
• Trim feathers from both the Cock and Hen and if need be then in between rounds is equally important
• One difference between the two establishments is that Colin does not wean his youngsters from the parents “until the babies are almost ready to breed”, but Bruce takes the babies away “almost before they can fly” as he believes that this assists in a reduction of possible scalping incidents in the breeding cage and rarely loses a chick because it has been weaned too young

The Real Priorities in Building a Competitive Budgerigar

• Right back from the days of importation it was clear that the main feature of this stud was going to be strength of shoulder, and this key feature remains the highest priority for the partnership today
• The bird must fill the cage and literally be a hand full
• Mask and spot are very important and again need to be presented on the wide shoulders to catch their eye
• Birds must be truly representative of their respective variety
• If you want to improve your specialist variety, always put your best Normals into this line to breed splits. Only use a split to recessive when the split is better than the recessive. Never use inferior normals to breed splits
• Bruce & Colin consider that flecking has it’s place in the stud, and ticked birds are often shown when birds of the same quality but clean are not available, so flecking is very acceptable and can in fact be an advantage if managed well
• It is important to be ruthless with hens that do not perform, the hen is so important for the number of and size of eggs, fertility and feeding, you need to be able to trust the hen that you are about to put with your best Cock Bird. You also need to trust her with fledgling chicks while you are at work during the day

The Australian National Budgerigar Council Inc. (A.N.B.C) National Show

Q: Why has Victoria dominated the Nationals for many years?

Both New South Wales (NSW) and South Queensland have been within a class of winning on many occasions, it would not take much for either of these two states to have won in recent years.

At his point, however, it is worth mentioning that the introduction of the “champion” status in Victoria some 10 years ago has stimulated many exhibitors to strive for the highest membership status. To remain in the champion section you win 30 points each year to maintain a presence otherwise you drop back into the open section.

Getting into the champion section is a bit like improving your golf handicap, while staying there becomes very personal indeed. Consequently there are many more birds on the bench, the birds have improved and less people have exited the fancy because of these new challenges.

Q: Are there too many varieties at the Nationals?

Victoria expanded the shield competition for a number of reasons but one of these reasons is not well understood.

By increasing the number of specialist variety classes, so too, you increase the number of first places on offer. Winners are grinners, more people have more opportunity, more membership points and more people are happy!

So, increase the fancy, increase the number of winners and increase the number of grinners. Therefore, increasing the number of classes at the Nationals would follow the same philosophy.

Q: Do overseas judges add to the National competition?

Overseas judges are good for the fancy in Australia, particularly when they add value through feedback whilst visiting and judging at our shows.

By commenting on the comparison of the quality of birds benched in the UK versus Australia, we can get good feedback on where we are deficient to the UK birds or where we compare favourably.

For example at a recent National, comments were made about some of our lesser varieties (i.e. Blackeye and Clearwing) being “true to the standard” for these varieties. Where the actual variety was almost lost to the UK.

Also, the winning Fallow at the WA National was stated as being “the best Fallow I have ever judged” from a UK judge.

Q: What benefit do you see in having an optional third bird benched per zone at the National competition?

This would increase the spectacle but most importantly allow exhibitors, who often manage to get a bird into the zone team only to see it left as the reserve bird on the day, to feel a sense of achievement.

Points, like at the Victorian Shield competition, would only be allocated to the first two birds from each zone, but, instead of having the bird left in the holding cage, you may still be the 3rd best bird in Australia for your particular variety.

Even with the smaller zones, imagine the boost in confidence and pleasure one would get when just having a bird in the National.

Regardless of which zone, often this extra bird is from a beginner or intermediate exhibitor and this would enhance their profile and assist in generating further interest from their fellow club members to strive for success in future years.

The Victoria Scene

Q: The Adult Shield

The Sheppard & Flanagan Partnership does not show in the Budgerigar Council of Victoria Inc. (BCV) Adult Bird Shield to enable other Mountain District members the opportunity to get more birds into the Shield competition.

This allows them to obtain Exhibitor Points where they may not be able to do so when the Partnership has 3 birds in the team.

Another reason is that showing should be a focus for your “current breeding stock” and past seasons’ birds (i.e. Young birds and Unbroken Caps).

Q: Exhibitor Points?

Current points to enter and retain Champion status should be increased to reduce the ease of obtaining Champion status through one or two birds.

Points required should be increased to 100 or 120 points per three year period as the number of points available now compared to when Exhibitor Points were introduced is substantially higher.

One option may be to also increase the number of points available by giving points down to 6th place at the Shield competitions and / or giving points for Best Opposite Sex at Diploma Shows.

Other Comments

Q: 1st September Ring Issue

The Sheppard & Flanagan Partnership sees no reason to change their “traditional” approach and will continue to pair birds up on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, even with the change to the ring issue.

Just because the rings arrive on 1st September, does not mean you have to put a ring onto a chick on that day!

Remember, you don’t have to change anything if you don’t want to.

A whispered comment was heard that the ANBC almost got the ring issue right … it should have been two months earlier … i.e. 1st July! Then the full circle would be complete (for those that are too young to remember, many, many years ago our rings were issued on 1st July each year.)

Q: Judging

It is often difficult for judges to judge certain varieties when they have never bred the particular variety, particularly when it comes to some of the lesser varieties.

If you have not experienced the results of breeding certain features or varietal characteristics then it is difficult to comment on these factors on the exhibition specimen.

Q: Dwindling Membership Numbers

It was interesting that some experiences from their early days in the fancy, that have vanished in more recent years, may have attributed to our falling membership numbers.

There is no real formal education programme to learn varieties, husbandry or how to improve quality through breeding programs (i.e. Line breeding, etc).

Many new members also want “instant successes” without doing “the hard yards” and achieving success through a number of years of work.

Mentor programs or aviary visits incorporating some sort of training programs may be of assistance.

Also, the target “new member” is no longer the teenager or youngster – due to modern electronic and technological completion – but should be the young family or older generation who no longer have kids to look after but yearn for a hobby to keep them occupied.

This original version, now edited for international appreciation, was written by Rod Skivington and is reproduced with his kind permission and acknowledgement to the The Budgerigar Council of Victoria Inc.

GSB

Introduction by GSB

This is the second of several Australian articles to be published on Budgerigar.co.uk to illustrate the effects that the UK hobby has had on the Australian fancy since the first UK exports arrived in the 1990s.

Prior to 1989, the Australian Standards excelled in type, but lacked credibility in head qualities.

It should be stressed that this partnership is but one of a group of important studs that now exist. These will be featured at a later date. It does however, in itself, depict the improvement that has been made by S&F given such a small initial outlay that they could afford at the time.

At the Beginning

Most of the bird fancy has heard of this most formidable budgerigar partnership, but perhaps few know the story of how this partnership has developed to this pinnacle of success that they now enjoy.

They first met as they joined the 1st North Moorabbin scout troop when they were just eight years of age. In later years they played for a local football club alongside each other in the back line for the under 15s and under 18s.

In the early scouting days (and unbeknown to each other) they both had a few pairs of birds breeding at their homes. It was their parents that identified this common interest and, as they lived in the same suburban block, the two became inseparable at weekends as a brief bike ride would link their common interest.

Their combined confidence grew and they travelled beyond their suburban block in East Bentleigh in search of other breeders. Alan Moss and another breeder in Bentleigh were a real hit for these two boys as they witnessed at first hand other breeders with all those new varieties and so many breeding cabinets.

It was not long before they found another breeder – just a short bike ride away lived Frank Gardner. There is no doubt that this introduction was the turning point for these two young lads in their budgerigar breeding future.

Developing the Essential Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes

Back in those days, Frank Gardiner was the Chairman of the BCA, the Chairman of the Judges and standards committee and ran the monthly judge’s training school at the Camberwell football ground, his contribution to the bird fancy was significant and he was a respected national icon of the bird game and was even said to have invented the budgerigar!

Frank took these two enthusiastic youngsters under his wing and the tuition that was passed on over many, many years was second to none. In those years when Frank went out judging he had the two youngsters in tow most of the time.

Frank had a constant stream of visitors to his birdroom – people such as D Demoore, A&D Bassett, B Grinlington, A Bugg, L Vines, H Eady, I Hunter, J Scoble, H Heath and many more – but what an introduction for these kids and be assured they were there listening to every conversation.

After a long conversation with Bruce & Colin’s parents, Frank was permitted to take the boys to a local budgerigar club meeting. They were probably around 14 years old by this time and it just happened to be the Nepean Society. Here they were introduced to more big names of the bird game – G Campbell, G Gill, B Adams, R Reed, H Wise, C Bishop, F Stone, B McDowell and J Tanner.

In those days, as part of the monthly meetings, Frank Stone conducted a monthly education program that focused on a variety or an aspect of the fancy. This was accompanied by hand-out notes that were cherished by the two as they were so eager to learn.

Under the close tuition of Frank, Bruce and Colin passed the judges test before they had their drivers’ licenses, and importantly Frank instilled in them the important values for a judge and what it meant to be a competitor – all of which these days are more commonly referred to as life skills.

The Nepean Society is responsible for giving them their strong competitive nature. Nepean was a strong club and very competitive in the various local inter-clubs and shield competitions – all of which flow onto the National competition.

The two are quite passionate about being foundation members of the Mountain District Society, as it was a difficult time for them as they severed long standing ties with Nepean and almost immediately had to compete against their old and favoured club at the shield.

They went on to establish even more relationships with a new bunch of members such as B Grinlington, J Hobbs, B McVilley, J Verdonk, N Collins, P Bach, A Borg and R Skivington.

Bruce and Colin were fortunate enough to join Frank as councillors on the BCA and it was here that their involvement in the administration of the fancy began.

To date Bruce has been the Chair of the BCV, Treasurer, Ring Registrar, Chair of the Judges and Standards Committee, as well as an ANBC delegate and team carer on many occasions. Colin has been the BCV Vice President, BCV Secretary, a member of the Judges and Standards committee, Classis Show Manager, National Show Manager and ANBC WBO Delegate.

Forming the Partnership

At the beginning Bruce and Colin showed separately, though birds were exchanged regularly between the two at the time of pairing.

The Sheppard & Flanagan partnership was formed in 1990 – by necessity in a way, as individually they could not afford to import a shipment of birds from the UK separately. So, as a partnership, they participated in the very first shipment (nine birds) and the majority of their stock was purchased from Tom Williams and Peter Sanderson.

The limited numbers of birds that came in from the UK really restricted the flexibility for the two – when you divide some nine birds into two separate sheds there is not a lot to work with!

Fortunately a few of the imported birds were prolific breeders, consistently producing strong shouldered birds, with great length of body, exceptional head feather and deep mask that were full of large spots.

Something that was plentiful in those early days was smaller type cobby hens. They exhibited really good conformation with no real faults other than being a little smaller.

And herein lies one of the great secrets of the bird game. The hen described in the last paragraph is a breeding type of hen – a hen that is bomb proof i.e. she will breed no matter what cock she is paired too! If you are to be successful, first and foremost, you must have birds that will breed for you no matter what the circumstances. You must have a line of hens that are strong on fertility, feeding, nurturing and weaning.

The Success

All readers, especially those outside Australia, will want to know how successful Colin and Bruce have been on the show benches in recent years.

Suffice to say there is no doubt they have both made their mark on the Australian National Budgerigar Council Inc. (A.N.B.C) National Competition Show. For those unfamiliar with the Australian structure, for exhibits to be accepted for the National Show, they first have to be assessed at State level as a first hurdle. After that, if thought worthy, they go forward.

The National Show takes place mostly in the east of Australia to sympathise with those who travel for days from Western Australia, from Perth, to get their birds there.

Colin and Bruce live in the State of Victoria which is a bed of quality breeders. At the Victorian Shield Competitions they have had great success in the last four years with twenty Unbroken Cap Bird Shield wins and nineteen Young Bird Shield wins.

At National level they have also been highly successful and as a result of their success were awarded the A.N.B.C Hall of Fame Trophy in 2007. The photographs of their entries in recent times accompanying this article, tell their own story.

Today

Bruce and Colin have been fortunate to have visited many aviaries in the UK and stewarded at the BS show.

Together they have established a strong nucleus of Normals, Opalines, Dominant Pieds and Cinnamons, before moving into a much wider range of more specialist varieties, where each concentrate on only a few but they do include: Blackeye, Clearwing, Greywing, Yellow-Face, Crest, Spangle, Lacewing and Clearbody.

Bruce and Colin beleive that a full collection of varieties does go a long way to ensure that Mountain Districts are able to compete with the best of the Victorian clubs.

These days they have almost “come the full circle” in that they see more of each other as they are getting older – even with the distance between their residences.

They are also keen to point out that a very important part of the successful partnership was the support of their partners – Karen and Leanne – along with the birdroom manager at Colin’s place – his daughter Stephanie.

Part two of this article can be read here.

From Daniel Lütolf, Switzerland

I just visited quickly your website.

Well done, big compliment, lots of useful information.

Concerning the information for budgerigar breeders, as it develops, it may already be the universal site for the worldwide budgerigar hobby.

I can imagine, you are quite tired after that big effort, but it was really certainly worth it!

From Jac Cuyten, The Netherlands

As we can expect from a man like you, another super initiative for all budgerigar breeders all over the world.

Of course you may place the Cuyten DVD trailer on your website and it will be an honour to see you in Holland some time.

A lot of winning birds you will not see from me, because my pleasure from the hobby is directed to the breeding side. This is the great challenge for me.

Of course I can send you pictures of my best birds and I will see to that later.

Quality wise I feel I am making another step forward this year.

From Steve Bailey, United Kingdom

Congratulations with the new international website. I am sure the whole hobby worldwide will get involved within it under your stewardship.

I am delighted to be back in this great hobby after several years of absence and would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for your help getting me started again. I have achieved considerable success at top level shows with your birds (as is fairly well known) and have now built up a very good stud of birds in which I take great pride.

Once again, I wish you every success with your new venture.

From Larry Moore, United States of America

My friend you have done it again!

The new website is exactly what this hobby has needed for a very long time.

We can always count on you to come up with something innovative that will benefit everyone in the hobby.

Continued good luck.

From Casper Maree, South Africa

Congratulations with your new site.

I have already spent some time on it and it proves to be THE site for the future.

All the best for the future.

From Matt Welchman, Australia

Congratulations on a fantastic site and a great idea.

The WWW is the key to the continuation of this wonderful hobby.

I recently started a web page for the Central Coast Club and have had great feedback – The Internet is an invaluable tool for the hobby today.

From Ron Payne , United Kingdom

Congratulations on the new web site, I spent a couple of hours going through it last night and didn’t realise time could go so fast!

Perhaps the word on the street should be “Binks has put his far-reaching thinking cap on again!”

From Jane Todd, South Africa

Your website was forwarded to me by the Budgerigar Society of South Africa today.

I just went to have a quick look and was amazed at the extent of information on it!

I now live in South Africa but originated from Hertfordshire and have recently become a “budgerigar fancier”! I started off with larger parrots such as African Greys, Amazons etc but find the budgerigar far more endearing and intend extending my collection.

Thank you for your website, I will view it often.

From Jim Marshall , Canada

I have just visited your new website and may I congratulate you on a very friendly and most comprehensive information bank regarding our great hobby.

The world wide web is a boon for the “Global Budgerigar Fraternity”.

Thank you for sharing.

From Didier Mervilde, Belgium

Like always with you, a very nice website and an “A+” for the hobby.

I am looking forward to the articles. Congratulations.

From Maurice Laker, United Kingdom

AT LAST a website for the hobby.

I am looking forward to spending some time on it.

Well done and congratulations on this new venture.

Any help I can give you please ask.

From Jos Reynders, Ireland

Congratulations on a job well done.

I heard about it so I was looking forward to seeing it for the last few weeks.

I was greatly surprised. I expected quality, but this is outstanding.

A great stimulous to the hobby worldwide.

Again thanks very much.

From Michael & Dean Borcherds, South Africa

Firstly congratulations on a truly brilliant website & the thinking & marketing behind it.

It is inspirational.

Wishing you & hopefully the hobby all the very best through its pages.

From Javed Khananza, Pakistan

Excellent site with tons of information.

We can say it’s an encyclopedia of information for fanciers.

From Alan Taylor, Spain

As an ex-budgerigar breeder now living in Spain, the web is my only way of keeping in touch with the fancy.

In my involvment with the fancy I was subscription secretary for the V.B.C. and show secretary for both the L.C.N.W.B.S.and Merseyside B.S.

I would like to congratulate you on the website – it is certainly one of the best that I have seen.

Best wishes for the breeding season.

From Prof. Maher Hamed, Egypt

Congratulations and thank you for launching such a valuable, helpful and interesting new website.

I enjoy reading the information, advice and articles in it. Many thanks.

From Ralph Jenne, Germany

Thank you for this really good website! You have clearly invested a lot of time.

I hope that this international website takes our wonderful hobby even further forward!

Greetings from Freiburg!

From Gary Sutton, United Kingdom

The Budgerigar hobby has been in need of just this type of website.

Congratulations to all involved.

In my opinion, Gould has never been given enough acknowledgment for assisting Charles Darwin, and really taking the major roll in cataloging and identifying the birds which Darwin brought back from the Galapagos Islands in 1836.

John Gould (14th September 1804 to 3rd February 1881) was an English ornithologist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed “Darwin’s finches”, was pivotal in the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, though they are barely mentioned in Charles Darwin’s book, “The Origin of Species”.

Gould’s Work with Darwin

When Charles Darwin presented his mammal and bird specimens collected during the second voyage of HMS Beagle to the Geological Society of London at their meeting on 4 January 1837, the bird specimens were given to Gould for identification.

He set aside his paying work and at the next meeting on 10th January 1837, reported that birds from the Galapagos Islands which Darwin had thought were blackbirds, gross-bills and finches, were in fact:

A series of Ground Finches which are so peculiar that they now form an entirely new group containing 12 new species.

This story made the newspapers.

In March 1837, Darwin again met Gould. Gould explained to Darwin that what he thought was a wren and had named it the Galapagos “wren”; was in fact another species of finch and that the mockingbirds he had labelled by each island were an amazingly separate species rather than just varieties but with relatives on the South American mainland.

Subsequently, Gould advised that the smaller Southern Rhea specimen that had been rescued from a Christmas dinner, was a separate species which he named Rhea darwinii, whose territory overlapped with the Northern Rheas. Darwin had not bothered initially to label his finches by Island names, but others on the expedition had taken more care.

Gould now sought specimens collected by Captain Robert FitzRoy and his crewmen. From them he was able to establish that the species were unique to the Islands, an important step on the inception of his theory of evolution by natural selection.

John Gould’s work on the birds was published between 1838 and 1842 in five numbers, as Part 3 of the Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, edited by Charles Darwin.

I think it is fair to assume that John Gould played a large role in Darwin’s theory of evolution even though it is scarcely accredited. We as budgerigar breeders have proved that a species of bird can be changed over time through selective breeding, which is carried out in nature by Natural Selection by only leaving the strongest to survive.

However, we as breeders do not allow the strongest to survive as the exhibition budgerigar would revert back through Natural Selection to its wild state. Consequently only the ones we believe are esthetically pleasing to us as breeders of exhibition budgerigars are allowed to be bred with or survive.

By doing this we can stretch, widen, change the feather structure and even increase the bone structure and consequently the body size of budgerigars. By this process we prove that a species can be changed in certain respects.

In his final years, Darwin was fascinated by pigeons and the way breeders had developed them through selective breeding from the common ancestor of the Rock Dove. He devoted much of his later life to studying the Racing Pigeon.

So in March 1855 Charles Darwin was to become a pigeon fancier and set up a breeding loft at his home in the village of Downe, Kent. However, we as budgerigar breeders are doing much the same thing by attempting to defeat Natural Selection, which incidentally as I certainly know we can never win!

Nevertheless, we as exhibition budgerigar breeders are having great fun while trying.