CANARY. 79 
FRINGILLA CANARIA. ° 
CANARY. 
(Pirate 12.)* 
Passer serinus canarius, Briss. Orn, ili. p. 184 (1760). 
Fringilla canaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 321 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Gmelin, Latham, (Bonaparte), (Godman), (Dresser), &c. 
Carduelis canaria (Linn.), Less. Traité d’ Orn. p. 443 (1831). 
Crithagra canaria (Linn.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 294 (1837). 
Serinus canarius (Linn.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 163 (1850). 
Dryospiza canaria (Linn.), Gray, Hand-l, B. ii. p. 83 (1870). 
The first alleged occurrence of the Canary in our islands in a wild state 
rests on the authority of Mr. Swaysland, who states that at least fifty years 
ago he caught one in his father’s net early one morning in April near 
Brighton. It wasa bird of remarkably rapid flight, and when it was caught 
it turned sharp and flew into the net with the rapidity of a Hawk. He 
further states that the actions of the bird, when it was transferred to a 
cage, were extremely wild. : 
There can be little doubt that the Canary is an accidental visitor to the 
British Islands. Birds indistinguishable from the wild Canary of the Azores, 
and having no appearance of ever having been in confinement, are occa- 
sionally caught by the bird-catchers in the neighbourhood of London. 
Mr. Boud has an example thus obtained in his collection ; and Mr. Bartlett 
informs me that at least four examples have passed through his hands. 
Other specimens have been obtained near Brighton. The number 
of birds passing along the coast in autumn on migration is almost 
fabulous; they are caught with clap-nets. A bird-catcher told me that he 
once caught three thousand Greenfinches in a fortnight near Brighton, 
and that he was sure that he did not catch more than one in a hundred of 
the birds that flew over. In October, on the cliffs between Brighton and 
Shoreham, and between Brighton and Newhaven, a hundred pairs of nets 
are set every morning; and it is not an uncommon thing for one man to 
catch a hundred, and on special occasions, with a north-east wind, five or 
six hundred Greenfinches and Linnets in a morning. Amongst the 
thousands of common birds which are caught in this way, an occasional 
rare bird occurs, and is offered to Mr. Swaysland for sale. Every two or 
three years a wild Canary is brought to his shop; and examples thus 
obtained are in the collections of Mr..Monk, Lord Clifton, Major Spicer 
* The small egg of the Greenfinch figured on this Plate is an exact duplicate of an ege 
of the Canary. 
