14 



CANARIES, HYBRIDS, AND BRITISH BIRDS 



Lanzarotte : 31 by 5 to 10 miles. 



Fuerteveutura : 52 by 12 miles. 



Gomera : 23 miles loiifj. 



HieiTo : 18 by 15 miles. 

 In the case ol the Canary Islands it is 

 possible that the natives had domesticated 

 the Canary many years before its intro- 

 duction into Europe. 



Aitiiouuii known to Arabian fjeographers 

 in the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, 



the Azores were believed to 



The Azores. , , • i i -i. i ti 



have been uninhabited until 



annexed by I'ortugal, 1432-1457. Coloni- 

 sation went on well, and in 14(!(j they 

 were presented by Alphonso V'. to his 

 aunt, Isabella Duchess of Burjjundy. An 

 influx of Flemish settlers followed, and the 

 islands were known as the Flemish Islands. 



The area of St. Michael, the largest of 

 the Azores, is 224 square miles. 



Birds are so plentiful that 420,000, 

 including many Canaries, are slaughtered 

 annually (Encijcl. Brit.). 



It may be inferred, from the fact that 

 Ciesncr in 1555 speaks of the birds which 

 the English call Canaries, that a very early 

 importation of the bird had taken place 

 into England, and probably this came from 

 the Azores into England, Belgium, and 

 France some thirty years before the in- 

 troduction to other European countries. 



An island, thirty by thirteen miles, 

 Madeira was not annexed by l*()rtugal till 

 1420, although discovered long 

 before 1351 by Portuguese ves- 

 sels under (ienoese captains. 



The advent of the Canary is thus seen 

 to be independent of the usually given 

 tale of a shipload of Canaries, 

 bound i'or JyCghorn. being 

 wrecked on the island of l^lba. 



The extract from Olina,* who wrote in 

 1622 with reference to this, may be given, 

 as illustrating an im])ortant feature in the 

 Canary. \iz. varial)ility, which will have 

 im])ortant bearings in the sequel. 



"There are also found ol' this sort, of 

 birds in the Island II va a <iegenerate kind, 



' (HoifDiiii Pietrn Olinn. XJccdiera, ovrrc discorso 

 (h'H anahira e pro])7'irfd di diversi iirrrffi e in par- 

 licolarc di que clir ciintano. Euma, l(i22. 



Madeira. 



The Elba 

 Legend. 



descended originally from true Canary- 

 birds, which were brought over from the 

 Canary Islands in a certain ship bound 

 for Lighorn, that was cast away near 

 this Island, and after the shipwreck escaped 

 and saved themselves on this Island, and 

 afterwards propagated their kind here, 

 breeding and multiplying greatly. But 

 the difference of place hath wrought some 

 change in the external figure of this Bird. 

 I'or these spuri(jus birds have black feet, 

 and are nu)re yellow under the chin than 

 the genuine Canary-birds " (Ray, l(i78). 



We have, in this little experiment in 

 Elba, a repetition on a small scale of what 

 had previously occurred, in all probability, 

 in the comparatively restricted areas of 

 the three original habitats. 



There must have been in the history of 

 the wild Canary from the first, owing to 

 its comparatively restricted 

 Early habitats, more than an or- 



In-breeding dinary amount of the in- 

 Albinism. breeding that takes place 



in most wild s|iccies. 



An early instance of this interesting 

 fact and its result is recorded by Gesner 

 as follows : — 



" For it is found by experience that by 

 how much less they are, by so much are 

 they more canorous. But the great ones 

 shut up in cages turn their heads roiuid 

 about and backward, and are not to be 

 esteemed genuine or right-bred Canary- 

 birds. Of this Sort there arc brought from 

 the islands Palma and Cape Verde, which 

 they call fools, from that motion of their 

 head which is ])ro]icr to fools." 



This is a most interesting and important 

 reference to the occurrence ol an early 

 S])ort in the direction of all)inism and 

 increased size, for we know quite well at 

 the present day the peculiar motion of the 

 heads of some albinotic birds, es])ecially 

 when exi)ose(l to bright light, and of others 

 v.-jl h (leleet i\e sight. 



\)\\ Latham (1S23). in a footnote, quotes 

 from '■ Adanson's Voyage." {). 20 : 



"The Canary Bird, which grows while 

 in I' ranee, is in the Island of Tei\erilTe 

 almost as gray as a Linnet." 



