A stuffed Cinnamon Light Green budgerigar hen owned by Mrs Ellis of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, in 1935 and said then to be at least 50 years old was thought by Cyril Rogers to be wild-caught when he examined it.
[9] I J J Symes gave a description[10] of what he called "the brown factor" in this bird, saying the wing markings varied from raw umber to burnt sienna.
Among other, eight Greywing Greens, all hens, were bred which showed a "rather peculiar colour in their nest feathers".
[12] A Collier of Luton also bred two Cinnamon hens in 1933, a Mauve and an Olive,[11] but as these were both from stock obtained from Porter, these were almost certainly the same mutation.
These Cinnamons were bred from a pair of Light Greens obtained from a dealer in Aberdeen, but the ring on the cock showed it came from a Mr Banham, who lived near Victoria Station in London.
Nevertheless, all three Cinnamon mutations, those of Messrs Hughes, Simms and Hepburn, originated within a circle of 15 miles radius and within two years of each other.
This strongly suggests the importation of a single Cinnamon carrier cock into the Middlesex area around 1930.
Schumacher, of Magdeburg, Germany, also bred budgerigars with brown wings in 1932, but he disposed of them the year after and it is not known if these were Cinnamons.
Towards the end of 1934 the Budgerigar Society recognised the Cinnamon variety for exhibition purposes and published its show standard.
The Cinnamon mutation is sex-linked, the locus of its gene being carried on the Z chromosome, and recessive to wild-type.
[12] Cinnamon-like mutations are known in many other bird species, including the canary, greenfinch, peach-faced lovebird and cockatiel.
So in hens whichever allele is present on the single Z chromosome is fully expressed in the phenotype.
The adjacent table shows the appearance of all possible genetic combinations involving the Cinnamon mutation.