NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 13 



Family FRINGILLTD.^. Genus Serinus. 



Sub-family FRINGILLINjE. 



CANARY. 



Serinus hortulanus canarius {Li?i7iceus). 

 (British : Rare abnormal spring and autumn migrant.) 



Double Brooded. Laying season, January to July, according 

 to altitude. 



Breeding area : Portions of Cisatlantean sub-region 

 of Pala^arctic region. The Canary breeds and is a 

 resident in the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores. 

 It is merely an island race of the Serin Finch. 



Breeding habits : Unfortunately we are in posses- 

 sion of little detailed knowledge concerning the repro- 

 duction of the canary in a wild state. The bird probably 

 pairs annually, and there appears to be some evidence 

 that it is to some extent social during the nesting season, 

 and congregates into flocks of varying size after that 

 period is passed and the young are reared. The breeding 

 haunts of the Canary embrace a great variety of scenery. 

 The bird not only breeds in the gardens and country 

 near the towns, but is found in the mountain pine forests 

 up to an altitude of six thousand feet. Like so many 

 of our own Finches at home, the Canary usually selects 

 a nesting site in an evergreen tree or bush, sometimes 

 at a considerable height from the ground, and seldom 

 less than six or eight feet from it. The nest is made 

 externally of the stems of plants and coarse grass, and 

 lined with finer grass and vegetable down. I find little 

 or nothing recorded of the behaviour of the parent birds 

 at the nest when disturbed. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Canary are from four to six in number. 



