151 



" during a violent gale, and whicli I succeeded with 

 " very great trouble in rearing. They are now two 

 "years old. The exception, a very handsome male 

 " bird, came constantly flying round the aviary, and 

 "finally went into a cage which had been left hanging 

 "out by chance. This bird was, and is, so very tame 

 "that I fancy it must have been already caged." 



The apparent discrepancies between the foregoing 

 accounts, in so far as they affect the question of the 

 breeding of the he7i Wild Canary in captivity, can in 

 my opinion be explained very easily. Mrs. Reid's ex- 

 periences as to the bird are certainly at first hand, and 

 therefore would appear to be reliable. She has lived 

 many years in Funchal, and is an aviculturist of great 

 keenness and also an intense lover of birds and 

 student of their habits when wild, and should know 

 all there is to be known of the capabilities of the Wild 

 Canary. It will be noted that her males were from 

 hen " common " Canaries, which as we have seen are 

 exceedingly favourite birds among the dealing section 

 of the islanders ; and since these same people are not 

 above selling thousands of these little German birds 

 to unsuspecting visitors as specimens of the real Simon 

 Pure, and as at an)'' rate these domesticated birds would 

 be much more certain breeders in cages than the wild 

 hens, it is not difficult to imagine the wily breeder 

 using them in his hybridizing operations, and then 

 striving to enhance the value of their progeny by 

 asserting a feral pedigree on both sides, an attempt 

 in which they would of course be aided by the usual 

 reversion to type. 



And yet the female Wild Canary must be capable, 

 at any rate sometimes, of breeding in captivity, or else 

 how could the domesticated form have ever come into 

 existence ? The truth evidently lies between the two 

 extremes suggested by the foregoing accounts. As 

 with other serins — as indeed with most other wild 



