BREEDING MALINOIS WATERSLAGERS: INFORMATION ON SELECTION

The article appeared in 1970 in the prestigious journal, Ornitofilia. Although Mr. Van De Vonder originally wrote it in Flemish, I came across the article translated into Spanish by G. P. Mignone. Mignone included some biographical details about Mr. Van De Vonder as follows. After the introductory section, you will find the article itself — .

Armand Van De Vonder, President of the FRB (Royal Belgian Federation) — the oldest and most important Belgian Federation of Malinois Waterslagers, founded in 1905 — lives with his wife Marianne, an indefatigable hostess at song competitions, in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, a few kilometers from Mechelen (Malines), the homeland of the Malinois, from which this Belgian "Nightingale" derives its secondary name. He is a native of Mechelen.

Van De Vonder, in addition to being the President of the FRB, is one of the most competent and enthusiastic Belgian judges. He was also one of the first breeders to combat the practice of crossbreeding Malinois and Rollers and has always fervently and passionately supported the restoration of the old lineage of the true Malinois Waterslager. We will have a future opportunity to discuss his original establishment and the decline it experienced during the last war and in the post-war period.

To see Van De Vonder in photos is to see a robust and vigorous man with broad shoulders. Technically speaking, he is one of the most skilled and passionate breeders of Malinois Waterslagers. His calls for the purity of the Malinois breed have been the most vigorous in recent years. His stance on the sport is precise and clear; his breeding work is based on fundamental issues.

For all these reasons, as well as his exceptional personality, recognized throughout Flemish Belgium, it seemed useful to compile his opinions in this series of articles. They address the importance of a rigorous pairing plan and the technical information necessary to create a pure lineage.

Van De Vonder is also a fierce opponent of "point hunters," who risk the absurd venture of crossbreeding Malinois and Rollers.

In this month, as the breeding season is still underway, it seems useful to briefly review the principles and guidelines for selecting our Malinois Waterslagers.

I believe that all enthusiasts must deeply recognize how its song was in the past, as I am sure that without this recognition, they can never achieve the standards that embody the qualities to be considered by judges.

I will also say a bit about the song and, in particular, about selection; but first, I want to establish how the important characteristics of the old systems and those of today are observed at the level of each breeder.

The authentic and original Waterslager was very different from today's examples — in both form and song. The first Malinois Waterslagers were created in Mechelen (Malines) by weavers in the 18th century: this is where the name "Malinois song canary" or "Malinois" comes from. The Waterslagers of the past were thicker and longer than those of today. They measured about 15 centimeters in length, stood more upright on their legs, as can be seen on the emblem of the FRB, which has always represented these birds. They were generally light to dark yellow or variegated in color.

Their song was of high quality and sounded somewhat like that of the Nightingale; the majority produced wonderful Klokkende Waterslag and Bollende Waterslag, which are only very rarely heard today.

Moreover, thanks to selective breeding, the notes in their repertoire that were in their most satisfying form — it must be said — are those associated with the Nightingale. This has been the reason to confirm the singer's qualification as a true song canary of pure breed.

The enthusiast who has had the chance to hear a good Nightingale in spring knows well that there is no better song, no richer musical note, than this wild melody.

The water notes, which the marvelous Nightingale emits successively, are astonishing, enchanting us with their aerial reverberation, not to mention the deep trills of the Nightingale, sharp metallic notes (Staaltonen), or its Tjokken.

Every enthusiast should listen to the repertoire of the wonderful song of a good Nightingale, with all its strength and purity of notes, at least once, to form a real idea of the structure of this wild bird's song. Despite this, we must remember that this king of singers is only a small bird compared to many others; however, its vocal organs allow it to produce a truly extraordinary song, enabling it to emit notes of incomparable beauty.

Certainly, some of you will smile while reading my praise of the Nightingale, especially because our modern Waterslagers are very far from all this and, above all, far from what their very name, Waterslager, might lead one to hope for.

What can the Nightingale's song teach us regarding our principles of selection?

First and foremost, what this song teaches us is the elevation and strength of its trills. Weighing all things, including ourselves in this domain, against the trills of the Nightingale: we do not have Waterslager singers of exceptional quality, but we run the risk of believing that we possess a team that is truly excellent and distinctly better than others. Mediocre Waterslager singers may seem very good, not in themselves, but in comparison to others, if they find themselves in a generally unremarkable selection circle. Confirming this idea is the other extreme: very good singers seem mediocre next to exceptional master singers. This is a very useful lesson for enthusiasts to learn. In this way, the Nightingale's song teaches us to consider our Waterslagers duly modest and not to overestimate their abilities.

I will try to be more precise.

As its name suggests, a Waterslager must be a singer that clearly has, above all, the Waterslag in its repertoire in its various forms; its transition from one form to another must be clearly pronounced, and its song is not rolled but punctuated and pure. Only in this case can a singer be called, with the deserved title, a Waterslager. The real goal of selection must be as follows: we must select singers without a rolled song.

After reading these lines and listening to a few Malinois, who only bear the name, some will surely wonder: "How, then, have so many deviations from this standard been verified nowadays in the principles of Waterslager selection?"

First, I must say that the best Flemish teams were lost during the last war, and, on the other hand, the regional parameters of the broods that were reproduced were not of quality. Often, very often, there were irregular pairings. Ultimately, a number of breeders, after examining the gifts and yields of their Waterslagers, which are mediocre, with whom they made no effort and from whom they did not obtain pure production, paired Harzer females with Waterslager males, hoping to gain a few more points in competitions.

The consequence of the actions of these "point hunters" and these "commerce-minded amateurs" soon pierced the competitions and, above all, the selection guidelines, as they were already partly damaged.

The "point hunters" had certainly achieved positive results on the score sheets but had significantly reduced the quality of their operations.

This is why many Waterslagers have a Harz accent in their songs, resulting in "dry" Waterslagers that are very obvious (that is, Waterslagers where the sound of water is barely perceptible or entirely absent).

Flemish singers without rolls are sometimes represented as if they had them. In competitions, it often happens that one must wonder whether Waterslagers or Harz are being judged: it is truly a constant nuisance. The mixing of Harz and Malinois is a serious danger that we must all eliminate from our operations and selection goals.

The fundamental qualities that will allow a breeder to implement pure and effective selection are ability and technique, both of which can be learned from other breeders as well as from good books on aviculture, and an average intelligence that will allow them to apply the rules of selection with common sense. What also holds great importance is that the breeder recognizes their own ability: the appreciation of their own powers and limits, the willingness to improve, renew, and fulfill; moreover, the fundamental quality necessary to be a passionate bird enthusiast is, surely, internal modesty, from which they will, with certainty, draw self-criticism and the ability to learn and improve continuously.

It is also very important to have affection for the hobby, the source of which becomes a labor of love in a new sense that pushes one to say "no" when the technique of "high-point canaries" offers attractive incentives.

Returning to an image and model presented at the beginning of these notes, I advise being tenacious and continuing to listen to the Nightingale's song to closely compare it to your Waterslagers.

All of us, including you, my friends, who have patiently read this article written for you at the invitation of the friend who translated it into Spanish, must strengthen ourselves for the work of ennobling the marvelous Nightingale accent in the Waterslags. We must allow ourselves to be guided by these ideas with patience and strong will, two tools that can take us very far.

I encourage you to believe that, unlike nowadays, pure Waterslags were once produced through rationally planned pairings. They were not produced by introducing new stock into established operations from morning to night but by proceeding systematically.

A pairing plan is sufficient for four years. Do not shorten it for any reason.

Raise lineages that offer the possibility of improving the song slowly but steadily. Obtain females associated with an already established lineage from a well-known breeder and males related to another lineage within the same line. Constantly seek to acquire and transmit precise genealogical information, and once you have it, interpret it carefully. These principles, along with everything recommended in this modest work, will help you determine and, hopefully, follow the direction of your selection.