The Lizard holds a unique position among the old varieties because it is the oldest breed of canary in existence. Having the same pigments as the wild canary, the Lizard has the usual two basic colors, however, the ancient terms are still used – ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ which related to the terms ‘yellow’ and ‘buff’.  In the gold, the dark ground color of the feather is edged with a deep golden yellow, and in the silver, it is terminated by a fine margin o f white.

Admired and valued for the patterns and markings of its plumage, the Lizard has dark plumage with an area of clear feathers on the crown of the head called the cap. While no light coloring is to be found on any part of the Lizard's body, the variation in the cap is used to form the classification of the breed. The most important feature of the Lizard is the spangling which is a series of black, crescent-shaped spots running in orderly parallel rows down the back of the bird produced by the overlapping of the saddle feathers. 

 

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